NIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA.  SAN  DIEGC 


3  1822  00394  4667 


'^;v:v 


■i^mmW:&rt^ 


DATE  DUE 


A'H 


^   ^ 


■$*.:.<•?&><  \ 


-'i> v.  i 


J 


CAYLORO 


REC'O 


— 


31- 


PRINTED  IN  U    S    A. 


\ 

r 

■r4i''  - 

*?Mii?,:'ti'i 

%*$.. 

HSSi^ 


7  ,  /AS^i 


?!***•.  /• .«. 


iiiiiiM'3i?ilMiii9!iiFpiiLlF?inNIA'  ?AN  d|egp 


3  1822  00394  4667 


-.^n 

^%..  p    '* 

w^rZ---* 


^fp* 


^■i&O 


--'-7^3  ti'^M] 


,  t^OO* 


MB 


^^ 


«y/ 


LIBRARY 

UNIVE^STY  OP 
CALIFORNIA 
SAN  DIESO 


BIOMEDICAL  LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OP  CALIFORNIA,  SAN  DIEGO 

LA  JOLLA*  CALIFORNIA 


w 

\°\0S 


J I 

NIV 
CAI 
SA 


LI 


Nr 


A.  M.,  LL.  I). 
President  1810-1828. 


THE 


Harvard  Medical  School 


A  HISTORY,  NARRATIVE  AND  DOCUMENTARY 


1782  m^Mm^m®^ II  \m 


BY 

THOMAS  FRANCIS  HARRINGTON,  M.  D. 

Class  of  1888 
EDITED  BY 

JAMES  GREGORY  MUMFORD,  M.  D. 

Class  of  1888 


Volume  ii 
illustrated 


NEW  YORK  :      CHICAGO 

LEWIS  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

1905 


Copyright,  1905 

BY 

The  Lewis  Publishing  Company 


CONTENTS. 


Volume  II. 

Chapter  XVIII. — University   Government    457 

Chapter  XIX. — Medical  School ;  Details  of  Government 

— 1827-1847 473 

Chapter  XX. — Rivals    489 

Chapter  XXI. — North  Grove  Street  Building — Warren 

Museum — New  Men — Statutes,  1847- 1854 5°9 

Chapter  XXII. — Men  and  Manners — Charles  W.  Eliot 
— The  Summer  School — The  Teaching  Staff  Thirty- 
five  Years  Ago — An  Executive  Faculty — The  Be- 
ginning of  a  New  Era,  1855-1871 533 

Chapter  XXIII. — Clinical  Advantages  at  Harvard ....    565 

Chapter  XXIV.— Ether— 1846 591 

Chapter  XXV.— The  Webster  Murder  Trial— 1849.  •  •  639 
Chapter  XXVI. — Body  Snatching — Anatomy  Laws.  .  .  651 
Chapter  XXVII. — Medical  Laws — Societies — Libraries  671 

Chapter  XXVIII — Eminent  Alumni 705 

Chapter  XXIX. — Eminent  Alumni — Continued 741 

Chapter  XXX. — Eminent  Alumni — Continued 811 

Chapter  XXXI. — Eminent  Alumni — Continued 867 

Chapter  XXXII. — Harvard  Medical  Men  in  the  Civil 

War  and  in  the  War  with  Spain 917 


The  Harvard  Medical  School 


A   HISTORY 


Volume  II 


UNIVERSITY  GOVERNMENT. 


The  Harvard  Medical  School. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

UNIVERSITY   GOVERNMENT. 

While  the  development  of  the  Medical  School  was  advanc- 
ing, important  changes  were  taking  place  in  the  management 
of  the  College.  John  Thorton  Kirkland  was  elected  Presi- 
dent of  Harvard  on  August  23rd,  18 10.  He  had  been  for 
sixteen  years  pastor  of  the  New  South  Church  in  Boston, 
where  he  won  the  confidence  and  sympathy  of  the  best  people 
in  the  community.  For  some  years  there  had  been  a  feeling- 
established  with  more  or  less  open  discussion,  that  Harvard 
College  was  not  keeping  pace  with  the  demands  of  the  rapidly 
growing  country,  that  it  was  not  in  harmony  with  the  spirit 
of  the  times,  that  the  discipline,  organization,  and  instruction 
of  the  College  were  far  from  what  they  should  be.  The  first 
and  third  of  these  criticisms  were  readily  met  and  overcome, 
lint  the  question  of  organization  and  management  became  very 
pressing  and  calls  for  some  consideration  here. 

The  management  of  the  College  had  been  entrusted  to  three 
different  bodies  of  men  who  held  their  authority  under  an  Act 
of  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts, — an  act  passed  in 
1642,  a  charter  granted  in  1650,*  with  an  appendix  dated 
1657;  a  constitution  in  1780,  revised  in  1821  ;  and  an  act  of 
the  Legislature  of  18 14. 

The  first  of  these  bodies  having  the  management  of  the  Col- 
lege is  the  Faculty.  This  body  has  in  charge  the  immediate 
government  of  the  College  and  is  composed  of  the  President 

*  First  Charter  is  still  in  force.     It  is  preserved  at  the  College  Library. 
457 


458  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

and  a  certain  number  of  the  resident  Instructors,  about  ten  or 
twelve  usually;  this  board  of  Instructors  deals  with  the  disci- 
pline of  the  students. 

The  second  board  is  the  Corporation. f  This  board  is  su- 
perior to  the  Faculty,  and  is  composed  of  the  President,  the 
Treasurer,  and  five  "  Fellows."  The  Corporation  have  the 
management  of  the  funds  and  revenues  of  the  College;  they 
appoint  the  Instructors  and  other  officers,  and  assign  their 
duties  and  pay;  they  make  laws  for  the  government  of  the 
instructors  and  students ;  and  fill  vacancies  in  their  own  body. 

The  Corporation  are  restricted  in  their  powers  by  the  third 
body,  the  Overseers*  It  was  with  this  last  body  of  officers 
that  the  events  to  which  we  shall  refer  were  associated.  By 
the  charter  of  1642  the  personnel  of  the  Overseers  comprised 
the  Governor  of  the  Colony  and  Deputy  Governor  for  the  time 
being,  all  the  magistrates  of  the  Colony,  and  the  teaching 
elders  of  certain  specified  Congregational  Churches,  together 
with  the  President  of  the  College.  This  arrangement  worked 
as  well  perhaps  as  any  possible  at  that  time,  but  in  the  course 
of  a  century  and  a  half  conditions  had  changed.  All  the 
learned  men  were  not  now  confined  to  one  profession,  and  it 
became  evident  that  it  would  be  both  wise  and  expedient  to 
appoint  other  persons  of  recognized  ability  to  places  of  trust 
and  power  in  the  councils  of  the  College.  In  1780  James 
Bowdoin  was  elected  into  the  Corporation,  the  first  individual 
ever  elected  into  that  body,  except  sundry  treasurers,  who 
was  not  a  clergyman,  professor  or  tutor.  The  disturbed 
political  state  of  the  country  at  that  time  made  it  seem  unwise 
to  carry  the  new  principle  any  further.  A  beginning  had 
been  made,  however,  and  the  choice  of  Bowdoin  proved  an 

t  Established  1650,  an  appendix  1657,  recognized  by  the  Massachusetts 
Constitution  of  1780. 

*  They  hold  their  power  by  virtue  of  the  Act  of  1642,  the  constitution 
of  1780,  and  the  statutes  of  1810  and  1814. 


UNIVERSITY  GOVERNMENT  459 

excellent  one,  both  for  the  College  and  for  the  principle  in- 
volved. The  Constitution  of  Massachusetts  adopted  in  that 
year  (1780)  provided*  that  the  Overseers  should  consist  of 
the  Governor,  Lieutenant-Governor,  Council  and  Senate  of 
the  Commonwealth,  with  the  President  of  the  College,  for  the 
time  being,  and  the  Ministers  of  the  Congregational  churches 
in  the  towns  of  Cambridge,  Watertown,  Charlestown,  Boston, 
Roxbury,  and  Dorchester.  The  senators  who  were  elected  to 
serve  on  the  board  frequently  found  it  impossible  to  give  the 
time  necessary,  either  because  of  their  duties  in  the  General 
Court,  or  because  during  its  recess  their  homes  were  in  many 
instances  distant  from  Cambridge. 

Therefore,  in  March,  i8io,f  an  Act  was  passed  changing 
the  conditions  so  that  the  Board  of  Overseers  should  consist 
of  the  Governor,  Lieutenant-Governor,  Council,  President  of 
the  Senate,  and  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
President  of  the  College,  fifteen  Ministers  of  Congregational 
Churches,  and  fifteen  laymen  inhabitants  of  the  State,  to 
be  elected  by  the  Old  Board  of  Overseers.  In  passing  this 
law  the  charter  rights  of  the  College  were  preserved,  and  it 
was  provided  that  the  Act  must  be  accepted  both  by  the 
Corporation  and  the  Overseers  before  it  became  law.  This 
last  clause  proved  very  troublesome,  and  in  18 12,  when 
politics  changed  the  personnel  of  those  having  charge  of  the 
making  and  enforcing  of  the  laws  of  the  Commonwealth,  the 
law  of  1810  was  repealed,:}:  and  the  Board  of  Overseers  was 
reestablished  as  it  had  existed  prior  to  1810.  This  last  Act 
(1812)  did  not  provide  for  the  submission  of  the  Act  to  the 
Corporation  and  Overseers  for  their  approval  before  it  could 
become   law ;  consequently   its   validity   was   denied   by   those 

*  Chapter  V,  Sec.  I,  Act  3,  June  15,  1780. 

t  Act  passed   March   6,    1810;   accepted  by  the   President   and    Fellows, 
March  16,  by  the  Overseers.  April  12,  1810. 
$  February  29,  1812. 


400  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

bodies.  Submission  to  its  provisions,  however,  seemed  the 
wisest  course,  and  nothing  further  was  done  until  February 
28th,  1814,  when  the  Act  of  18 12  was  itself  repealed,  and 
the  Act  of  1810  was  re-enacted. 

In  the  Convention  for  amending  the  Constitution  of  Massa- 
chusetts, held  in  December,  1820.  it  was  suggested  that  the 
Board  of  Overseers  be  unrestricted  as  to  the  denomination  of 
the  ministers  eligible  for  election.  After  consultation  with 
the  President  and  Fellows  and  with  the  Overseers,  the  Com- 
mittee (Daniel  Webster,  Chairman)  reported  to  the  Conven- 
tion that  such  an  amendment  to  the  College  charter  would  be 
agreeable  to  the  College  authorities.  The  report  was  adopted 
by  the  Convention,  but  when  it  was  submitted  to  the  people 
of  the  State  it  was  rejected  by  an  overwhelming  majority.* 
In  1843  clergyymen  of  all  denominations  were  made  eligible  as 
Overseers,  and  in  185 1  a  limited  term  of  service  was  intro- 
duced. Since  then  the  changes  in  the  Board  of  Overseers 
have  been  briefly  as  follows : 

1852 — The  Board  to  consist  of  the  Governor,  Lieutenant- 
Governor,  President  of  the  Senate,  Speaker  of  the  House,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Education,  the  President  and 
Treasurer  of  the  College,  and  members  elected  by  the  Senate 
and  House  of  Representatives.  In  1865  f  the  election  of 
Overseers  was  transferred  to  the  Bachelors  and  Masters  of 
Arts,  and  the  Honorary  Graduates. §  In  1880  persons  not 
citizens  of  the  state  of  Massachusetts  were  made  eligible  as 
Overseers. 

Now  to  return  to  the  period  with  which  we  are  dealing. 
For  some  time  previous  to  1823  there  had  been  dissatisfac- 

*  The  vote  was  8020  in  favor  of,  and  20123  against  the  amendment. 

f  Act  of  April  28th,  1865,  accepted  by  President  and  Fellows,  December 
15;  accepted  by  Overseers,  September  21,  1866. 

§  Except  members  of  the  Corporation  and  officers  of  instruction  or  gov- 
ernment, none  of  whom  are  eligible  as  Overseers,  or  entitled  to  vote  in 
the  election  of  Overseers. 


UNIVERSITY  GOVERNMENT  461 

tion  with  University  conditions,  both  among  the  resident  in- 
structors and  in  the  community  at  large.  This  dissatisfaction 
arose  principally  from  three  causes.  First,  The  existing  rela- 
tions between  the  Corporation  and  the  immediate  Govern- 
ment, or  Faculty.  Secondly,  The  diversity  of  opinion  con- 
cerning the  discipline,  instruction,  and  morals  of  the  College. 
Thirdly,  The  excess  of  expenditure  beyond  the  income  of  the 
College.  These  questions  all  have  a  direct  bearing  on  the 
affairs  of  the  Medical  School,  and  call  for  some  consideration 
in  these  pages. £ 

±  The  facts  here  related  are  gleaned  from  Quincy's  "  History  of  Harvard 
College  " ;  the  College  records ;  and  various  pamphlets  published  during  the 
many  controversies.  The  principal  documents  relating  to  the  claim  of 
Resident  Instructors  to  form  part  of  the  Corporation  are : — 

i.  The  Memorial  of  "the  Subscribers,  Resident  Instructors  in  Harvard 
College  to  the  Reverend  and  Honorable  the  Corporation  of  Harvard  Col- 
lege."    Dated  "  Cambridge,  March,  1824." 

2.  "  Remarks  on  a  Pamphlet  printed  by  the  Professors  and  Tutors  of 
Harvard  University,  touching  their  right  to  the  exclusive  Government  of 
the  Seminary.     By  an  Alumnus  of  that  College,   Boston,  1824." 

3.  A  Letter  to  John  Lowell,  Esq.,  in  reply  to  a  publication  entitled, 
(the  foregoing  No.  2),  signed  Edward  Everett,  dated  Cambridge,  Sept. 
25.  1824. 

4.  "  Further  remarks  on  the  Memorial  of  the  Officers  of  Harvard  Col- 
lege.    By  an  Alumnus  of  that  College,  1824." 

5.  Memorial  of  the  Professors  and  Tutors  in  the  University  to  the 
Reverend  and  Honorable  the  Overseers  of  Harvard  University  at  Cam- 
bridge, dated  May  21,  1824. 

6.  Report  of  the  Committee  of  the  Overseers  of  Harvard  College  on 
the  Memorial  of  the   Resident  Instructors,  Jan.  6,   1825. 

7.  Outlines  prepared  for  an  argument  to  be  delivered  before  the  Board 
of  Overseers  of  Harvard  College  upon  the  Discussion  of  the  Memorial 
of  the  Professors  and  Tutors  of  the  College  claiming  a  Right  that  none 
but  Resident  Instructors  in  the  College  should  be  chosen  or  deemed 
"  Fellows  "  of  the  Corporation,  the  substance  of  which  was  spoken  before 
the  Board  at  their  meeting  in  January,  1825.  By  Joseph  Story,  one  of 
the  members  of  the  Board. 

8.  "The  Jurist,"  Vol.  I,   No.  2,  for  April,   1829. 

9.  Story's    "  Miscellaneous    Writings,"    page   368. 

10.  Speech    delivered   before   the   Overseers   of   Harvard   College,    Feb. 


462  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

From  the  earliest  period,  at  least  one  of  the  instructors  in 
the  College  had  been  a  member  of  the  Corporation  as  well  as 
of  the  Faculty.  In  1806  the  Corporation  had  come  to  be 
composed  exclusively  of  non-resident  Fellows. 

When  vacancies  occurred  they  were  rilled  by  the  election 
of  non-residents,  and  this  led  the  resident  officers  to  believe 
that  they  were  to  be  permanently  excluded.  So  feeling  grew 
until  1823,  when  the  residents  claimed  that  residence  was  orig- 
inally a  qualification  for  fellowship,  therefore,  the  Corpora- 
tion ought  to  consist  of  fellows,  i.  e.,  resident  officers  of  the 
College.  This  contention  came  to  an  issue  then  in  1823  when, 
upon  the  death  of  John  Phillips,*  a  memorial  signed  by  six 
of  the  resident  instructors!  was  presented  to  the  Corporation 
asking  that  the  vacancy  be  not  filled  "until  they  can  have  an 
opportunity  of  laying  before  your  body  some  representations 
in  relation  to  the  subject."  Accordingly  (April  2d,  1824) 
eleven  of  the  resident  teachers  drew  up  a  memorialf  main- 
taining as  a  matter  of  chartered  right,  the  claim  of  the  resi- 
dent instructors  to  be  elected  to  vacancies  in  the  board  of 
the  President  and  Fellows  of  the  College.  The  Corporation 
did  not  act  upon  the  memorial,  and  in  June  nine  of  the  same 
instructors  presented  the  same  memorial  to  the  Overseers. 
The  matter  was  referred  to  a  committee,  and  so  rested  for 
some  months.  The  Committee  reported  (January  6,  1825) 
that  it  is  not  necessary,  by  the  charter  rights  or  otherwise,  that 
the  Fellows  of  Harvard  College  be  either  resident  in  Cam- 
bridge, instructors,  or  stipendiaries.     The  memorialists  asked 

3rd,  1825,  in  behalf  of  the  Resident  Instructors  of  the  College,  with  an 
Introduction;  by  Andrew  Norton,  1825. 

11.  Remarks  on  changes  lately  proposed  or  adopted  in  Harvard  Uni- 
versity.    By  George  Tichnor,  Smith-Professor,  &c,  1825. 

*  Elected  a  Fellow,  1812. 

§  The  Medical  Professors  did  not  sign  it. 

f  Five  Professors  engaged  in  instruction  to  undergraduates,  two  engaged 
in  the  instruction  of  graduates,  and  four  Tutors. 


UNIVERSITY  GOVERNMENT  463 

for  an  opportunity  to  be  heard  in  reply.  There  resulted  a 
most  interesting  and  thorough  discussion  of  College  rights. 
John  Lowell  defended  the  report,  while  Edward  Everett,  Pro- 
fessor of  Greek  Literature,  and  Professor  Norton,  advocated 
the  claims  of  the  residents. 

The  debate  lasted  three  days,  when  the  following  resolu- 
tions were  unanimously  adopted  by  the  Corporation : 

"  That  it  does  not  appear  to  the  Board,  that  the  resident  instructors 
in  Harvard  University  have  any  exclusive  right  to  be  elected  members 
of  the  Corporation. 

"  That  it  does  not  appear  to  this  Board  that  the  members  of  the  Corpo- 
ration forfeit  their  offices  by  not  residing  in  the  College. 

"  That  in  the  opinion  of  this  Board  it  is  not  expedient  to  express  any 
opinion  on  the   subject  of  future   elections." 

This  settled  the  question  of  charter  rights  which  had  for 
more  than  a  century  and  a  half  caused  dissatisfaction  and  dis- 
cussion. 

On  September  12,  1821,  a  letter  regarding  the  question  of 
discipline,  instruction,  and  morals  of  the  College  was  sent  to 
several  resident  instructors,  and  thirty-eight  questions  cover- 
ing these  topics  were  submitted  for  answers.  In  July,  1823,  a 
committee  (Joseph  Story,  chairman)  was  appointed  to  inquire 
into  the  state  of  the  University,  and  report  what  changes  are 
necessary.  Finally  in  June  (10th),  1825,  a  new  code  of  laws 
was  drawn  up,  and  those  laws,  amended  from  time  to  time, 
govern  the  University  to-day.  Paraphrased,  the  laws  are 
these : 

The  "Immediate  Government"  assumed  the  title  of  "Faculty 
of  the  University."  The  President  was  head  of  the  Faculty, 
without  any  visitorial  power  or  independent  negative.  He 
has  the  general  superintendency  of  the  University.  The  Uni- 
versity was  divided  for  the  purpose  of  instruction  into  Depart- 
ments, each  having  a  general  superintendency  of  its  own 
studies.     Students  were  given  the  right  to  select,  in  a  degree, 


464  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

their  own  studies.  Students  were  classified  according  to  pro- 
ficiency,* "and  on  their  number  the  emoluments  of  the  Presi- 
dent and  Professors  were  made,  in  a  degree,  to  depend."  The 
University  was  opened  to  special  students,  i.  e.,  students  not 
seeking  a  degree.  Frequent  examinations  were  established. 
The  system  of  fines  was  abolished,  and  a  system  of  discipline 
and  organization  was  inaugurated. 

These  laws,  designated  "Statutes  and  laws  of  the  Univer- 
sity in  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,"  comprise  about  forty 
pages,  while  there  are  one  hundred  and  fifty-three  separate 
regulations.  In  a  sense  they  mark  the  beginning  of  the  mod- 
ern Harvard  University. 

The  third  and  last  difficulty  to  be  settled  was  that  of  Funds. 
Previous  to  the  election  of  President  Kirkland,  the  duties  of 
the  President  were  largely  nominal.  The  general  management 
of  the  College,  such  as  distribution  of  studies,  appointment  of 
tutors,  and  all  executive  powers,  were  vested  in  the  "Imme- 
diate Government".  With  the  accession  of  Kirkland  to  the 
Presidency,  a  change  took  place.  He  was  vested  with  unprece- 
dented powers  in  the  management  of  the  University.  Sur- 
rounded by  a  body  of  able  advisers,  who  had  confidence  in 
his  judgment,  he  carried  the  College  forward  at  a  pace  which 
meant  much  for  its  future.  The  President  was  given  control 
of  the  finances,  a  control  which  had  previously  been  exercised 
by  the  Corporation.  The  salaries  of  the  President  and  Pro- 
fessors were  raised  ;f  the  number  of  professorships  was  in- 
creased from  ten  to  twenty-five;^:  young  men  were  elected  to 

*  This  clause  was  the  cause  of  the  "rebellion"  of  1827.  It  was  (hen 
abandoned. 

f  This  was  necessary  at  that  time  on  account  of  the  increased  price  of 
food,  etc. 

t  Four  depended  upon  fees,  or  voluntary  subscriptions ;  three  were 
titular,  being  confined  to  Tutors  after  six  years'  service ;  eight  rested 
upon  foundations,  adequate  to  their  support,  and  independent  of  the  gen- 
eral unappropriated  funds  of  the  College. 


UNIVERSITY  GOVERNMENT  405 

vacancies  as  fast  as  such  vacancies  occurred ;  of  the  one  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  received  from  the  legislature,  twenty 
thousand  went  for  the  erection  of  the  new  Medical  School 
building  in  Boston,  and  twenty-five  thousand  were  distributed 
to  beneficiaries, §  so  that  only  fifty-five  thousand  dollars  were 
added  to  the  College  funds  proper,  while  the  erection  of  Uni- 
versity Hall  alone  cost  sixty-five  thousand  dollars.  Besides 
these  expenditures,  there  were  twenty-five  thousand  dollars 
paid  for  repairs  of  college  buildings  and  for  beautifying  the 
grounds.  Eight  thousand  dollars  went  to  the  Library,  and 
to  procure  philosophical  and  chemical  apparatus. 

By  this  wave  of  prosperity  the  Professors  of  the  Medical 
School  benefited.  Up  to  this  time  their  support  was  derived 
from  the  fees  received  from  students  and  from  the  income 
of  special  funds.  Their  salaries  were  now  increased,  and  the 
additional  expense  was  assessed  on  the  senior  class  of  under- 
graduates, by  an  addition  of  ten  dollars  to  their  quarterly 
bills. 

Then  came  the  year  1824,  when  all  efforts  to  have  the  legis- 
lature renew  the  bank  tax  grant  failed.  Retrenchments  be- 
came necessary.  The  number  of  students  in  the  College  fell 
from  three  hundred  to  about  two  hundred;  a  reduction  of 
tuition  from  $55.00  to'  $30.00  per  annum  was  made;  a  union 
of  professorships  was  recommended  where  practicable;  and 
all  this  resulted  in  a  slight  saving. 

Regular  monthly  meetings  of  the  Corporation  were  now 
inaugurated,  and  monthly  financial  statements  with  an  annual 
report  from  the  Treasurer.    Thus  matters  stood  in  1831,  when 

§  The  new  professorships  were  paid  for  by  raising  the  tuition  one- 
fourth  part,  and  in  order  to  overcome  the  effect  which  this  might  have 
in  reducing  the  number  of  students  it  was  provided  "that  the  Corporation 
might    assist    meritorious    students,    when    unable    to    pay    the    additional 

tuition." 


466  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

new  statutes  for  the  Medical  School  were  adopted.     To  these 
we  will  return  later. 

In  1824  a  general  overhauling  of  University  affairs  took 
place.  The  following  report,  dated  October,  states  the  views 
of  the  Medical  Faculty.  It  has  another  interest.  J.  C.  War- 
ren, the  writer,  refers  in  it  to  the  study  of  comparative  anat- 
omy, and  that  is  the  earliest  recognition  which  I  have  been 
able  to  find  among  us  of  that  branch  of  medical  science.  War- 
ren's letter  in  part  reads : 

"  As  the  course  which  I  have  the  honour  to  deliver  is  not  so  inti- 
mately connected  with  the  system  of  study  pursued  in  the  University,  it 
will  not  I  suppose  be  desired  that  I  should  reply  at  great  length  to  the 
inquiries  in  your  communication. 

'  The  course  of  Anatomy  which  I  deliver  in  the  University  begins  on 
the  first  of  April.  The  lectures  are  an  hour  long,  given  three  times  a  week 
at  5  P.  M.  without  much  variation,  and  terminate  in  June.  They  are 
attended  by  the  Senior  class,  by  resident  graduates  and  students  of  medi- 
cine in  the  immediate  vicinity.  The  attendance  of  the  Senior  class  is  not 
compulsory ;  but  the  course  is  pursued  with  regularity  by  the  whole 
class  without   many   exceptions. 

'  The  plan  of  the  course  is  the  following.  First  there  is  an  exposition 
of  the  action  or  operations,  which  go  on  in  a  living  human  body;  called 
functions.  These  being  pointed  out.  Next  is  shown  the  apparatus  for 
performing  each  of  these  functions,  all  which  constitutes  the  human 
structure.  This  is  followed  by  a  comparison  of  the  machinery  by  which 
a  function  is  performed  in  man,  and  in  the  nine  classes  of  animals ;  its 
adaption  in  each  class  to  the  peculiar  habits  of  the  class.  Hence  flows 
the  irresistible  influence  of  the  action  of  a  single  almighty  power  in  so 
curiously  modifying  organs,  which  preserve  their  analogy  thro'  all  the 
classes,  to  the  modified  functions  they  are  to  perform ;  .  .  .  occasion- 
ally in  the  course  remarks  are  made  of  a  surgical  and  pathological  nature, 
when  they  can  be  employed  to  guard  the  student  from  error  and  disease; 
and  when  they  can  be  used  for  practical  purposes  in  the  learned  pro- 
fessions, that  is,  in   law  and   divinity. 

"  No  text-book  is  employed  in  this  course,  but  I  should  readily  undertake 
the  preparation  of  one,  if  it  should  be  thought  necessary  and  be  com- 
mended by   the   Government   of  the    University. 

"  In  regard  to  any  inconveniences  which  may  arise  from  the  organi- 
zation of  the  College  government,  it  will  not  be  expected  that  any 
material  information  may  be  given  from  my  department.     In  common  with 


UNIVERSITY  GOVERNMENT  467 

a  large  portion  of  this  community,  1  entertain  an  opinion  that  notwith- 
standing the  great  improvement,  discipline  of  our  College  may  be  and 
ought  to  be  improved.  That  the  age  at  which  a  considerable  part  of  the 
students  are  there  placed  demands  a  more  wakeful  and  scholastic  disci- 
pline. But  I  am  aware  that  great,  though  not  insurmountable  difficulties 
will  attend  its  introduction.  It  appears  to  me  that  no  difficulties  are 
unsurmountable  when  the  mass  of  the  intelligent  community  are  disposed 
to  aid  in  its  introduction — and  this  I  believe  they  will  be  if  the  changes  are 
slowly  matured  and  in  such  way  as  to  bring  the  sense  of  this  com- 
munity as  far  as  practicable  to  take  cognizance  of  and  to  act  in  thus  ma- 
turing them." 

In  the  same  letter  Warren  speaks  of  the  necessity  for  ath- 
letic exercises  as  a  part  of  the  College  curriculum.  Athletics 
are  seldom  thought  of  to-day  in  connection  with  the  Medical 
School.  Conditions  have  changed  very  much  since  those  lines 
were  penned.  Many  no  doubt  may  feel  that  Warren's  sug- 
gestion has  been  over-developed  in  the  College  proper,  but 
none  will  deny  the  expediency  of  that  wise  teacher's  advice. 
He  says : 

''  There  is  one  branch  of  education  the  improvement  of  which  seems  to 
fall  more  especially  within  the  cognizance  of  my  department ;  and  on  this 
I  feel  myself  called  on  to  say  something  because  it  has  been  in  a  great 
measure  neglected.  The  neglect  of  gymnastic  exercises  is  a  most  lamentable 
deficiency  in  our  mode  of  education.  When  I  look  around  on  a  collection 
of  students  in  our  college  and  observe  their  puny,  sickly  appearance,  I 
experience  a  profound  emotion  of  pity  and  regret.  Especially  when 
I  consider  that  many  of  these  individuals  may  have  to  obtain  subsistance 
by  individual  efforts ;  and  that  no  one  can  avail  himself  of  his  intel- 
lectual acquisitions  in  their  full  extent  without  more  constitutional  vigor 
than  is  possessed  by  a  greater  part.  It  is  well  known  that  this  subject 
receives  great  attention  in  foreign  universities, — that  various  methods  are 
employed  to  invite  and  encourage  the  student  to  the  pursuit  of  healthy 
exercise.     Is  this  impracticable  here? 

'•  I  have  thought  that  if  a  piece  of  land  were  laid  out  at  some  little  dis- 
tance from  College,  with  4  compartments  separated  by  hedges — one  com- 
partment of  one  or  two  acres  for  each  class — provided  with  incitements 
to  run;  jump;  throw  quoits,  or  javelins;  bats  and  balls;  a  small  shed 
or  building  in  each  for  occasional  shelter — the  necessary  apparatus  which 
should  be  as  various  as  possible  and  under  the  care  of  a  single  waiter — 
and  the  place  occasionally  visited  by  the  tutors  in  a  familiar  way — it  being 


468  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

understood  that  every  student  was  to  pass  some  time  there  daily;  and 
when  the  ground  is  covered  with  snow,  that  they  should  themselves  remove 
it — proper  conveniences  being  supplied.  Such  an  arrangement,  it  appears 
to  me,  would  not  fail  of  providing  excellent  effects  on  the  moral  and 
physical   dispositions  of  the  students. 

"  I  know  not  what  difficulties  may  have  prevented  the  execution  of  some 
such  plan.  It  appears  to  me  that  if  there  be  a  deficiency  of  funds  in  the 
College,  an  adequate  sum  might  be  raised  by  subscription  for  an  object  of 
so  much  consequence.  But  if  it  cannot  otherwise  be  accomplished  than 
by  some  sacrifice,  I  firmly  believe  there  is  no  one  branch  of  education 
which   might  not  be  advantageously  exchanged  for  this." 

On  August  1 6,  1825,  the  Corporation  appointed  President 
Kirkland,  with  Jackson  and  Warren,  a  committee  to  devise 
a  plan  for  gymnastic  exercises  at  the  University. 

The  investigation  into  the  causes  of  existing  conditions  relat- 
ing to  the  College  brought  out  the  following  letter  from  a 
man  closely  identified  with  her  interests.  The  letter  is  illu- 
minating : 

"  Boston,  October  26,  1824. 

"  Dear  Sir :  In  conformity  with  the  letter  ree'd  from  you  I  have  pre- 
pared such  a  report  or  answer  as  seem'd  to  become  my  department.  I 
must  apologize  for  not  doing  it  sooner:  I  mistook  the  time  to  be  De- 
cember instead  of  September. 

"There  is  one  subject  involving  the  interest  and  prosperity  of  our 
College  on  which  I  could  not  speak  in  the  report  ;  and  which  in  truth 
I   must  ask  leave  to   confide  to  you  personally. 

"  From  many  inquiries  and  much  observation  I  have  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  popularity  and  the  prosperity  of  the  College  is  more  influ- 
enced by  religious  opinion  than  any  other  cause.  The  difference  of 
political  opinion  has  had  comparatively  no  effect ;  now  if  our  College  be 
unpopular  is  it  to  be  attributed  to  its  government  being  in  the  hands  of 
decided  and  influential  federalists?  A  large  part  of  this  community 
consists  of  individuals  of  religious  sentiments,  opposed  to  those  incul- 
cated at  Cambridge.  It  is  thought  by  some  who  have  studied  the  matter 
that  two-thirds  of  the  state  are  strongly  opposed  to  the  religious  opinions, 
which  flow  from  our  alma  mater.  They  complain  with  deep  feeling  that 
Cambridge  is  not  merely  a  literary  seminary  but  it  is  a  school  of  sectarian 
doctrines — doctrines  which  they  view  with  alarm  and  horror.  They  ask 
what  necessary  connection  is  there  between  literature  and  sectarian  re- 
ligion? Cannot  you  give  us  a  University  without  a  school  of  iheology? 
Cannot  our  children  be  permitted  to  learn  the  various  parts  of  a  scientific 


UNIVERSITY  GOVERNMENT  469 

education  without  imbibing  doctrines  which  we  consider  poisonous — and 
which  in  our  view  far  outweigh  the  other  in  importance?  Separate  the 
theological  school,  separate  sectarian  instruction ;  give  a  fair  representa- 
tion to  those  of  different  opinions,  and  we  shall  no  longer  hear  of  new 
colleges  starting  up ;  we  shall  not  be  obliged  to  send  our  sons  50  or 
a  hundred  miles  from  us  when  the  stream  of  knowledge  is  floating  at 
our    doors. 

"  Such  Sir,  is  the  language  which  has  been  held  to  me  repeatedly  and 
earnestly  by  persons  of  elevated  minds  and  excellent  characters ;  and  I 
confess  for  myself  I  am  sincerely  of  opinion  that  the  interest  of  our 
University  would  have  them  who  are  anxious  for  its  prosperity  and  con- 
cerned immediately  in  its  welfare,  instead  of  propagating  any  exclusive 
sectarianism,  rather  to  build  up  opportunities  for  acquiring  information 
from  other  and  opposite  denominations  of  Christians.  Sects  must  exist — 
they  are  necessary  to  the  health — to  the  very  life  of  the  Christian  religion  ; 
but  the  very  necessity  of  their  existence  forbids  exclusion. 

"  My  great  confidence  in  your  liberality,  your  profound  views  and  in 
the  deep  interest  you  feel  for  our  University  would  form  my  excuse  for 
troubling  you  with  remarks  on  a  point  of  so  great  difficulty  and  delicacy. 
I  wish  the  knowledge  of  these  remarks  as  coming  from  me  to  be  confined 
to  yourself.  Not  but  that  I  would  if  necessary  declair  them  in  the  most 
open  and  decided  manner." 


MEDICAL   SCHOOL; 

DETAILS  OF  GOVERNMENT, 

1827  TO  1847. 


DETAILS  OF  GOVERNMENT  473 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

MEDICAL  SCHOOL ; 

DETAILS    OF    GOVERNMENT, 

1827    TO    1847. 

There  were  now  (1825)  fourteen  Medical  Schools  in  the 
United  States,  seven  in  New  England,  three  in  the  Middle 
States,  two  in  the  Southern  States  and  two  in  the  Western 
States.*  These  schools  had  over  two  thousand  students,  and 
there  were  graduated  in  1826  over  four  hundred  and  sixty 
young  men. 

In  July,  1827,  the  Medical  Faculty  of  Harvard  sent  a  long 
communication  to  the  Corporation,  dealing  with  the  question 
of  the  relationship  between  the  two  bodies.  The  following 
reply  was  received,  and  since  it  served  for  many  years  as  the 

*  Founded.     Students. 

1.  University  of   Pennsylvania,   Medical   School 1765  480 

2.  "  "     New    York,  "  "         1768  196 

3.  "  "     Harvard,  "  "         1782  128 

4.  Dartmouth  College,                         "             "         1796  80 

5.  University  Maryland,                    "            "         1806  300 

6.  Yale   College,                                   "            "         1810  no 

7.  University   of  New   York    (Fairfield) 1812  120 

8.  "     Transylvania,        Lexington.        Ky., 

Medical    School    1817  200 

9.  Vermont    Academy   of   Medicine 1818  i.}0 

10.  Ohio  Medical   School   1819  40 

11.  Bowdoin    College   Medical    School 1820  60 

12.  University   of   Vermont   1822  60 

13.  Williams  College,   Berkshire   1823  100 

14.  Medical   School  of  South  Carolina [824  50 


474  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

basis  of  official  standing  for  the  Medical  School  so  far  as  its 
connection  with  the  College  was  concerned,  I  give  it  in  full : 

"  August  9,  1827." 

"  It  is  agreed  between  the  Committee  appointed  for  the  purpose  and 
the  Medical  Faculty  that  the  fees  received  from  medical  students  for 
diplomas  and  degrees  during  the  present  and  four  succeeding  years  be 
paid  to  the  Medical  Faculty  to  be  applied  by  them  to  the  following 
uses,   viz : 

"  1.     To  pay  for  the  Diplomas  of  the  Medical  Graduates. 

"  2.  To  defray  the  expenses  of  such  repairs  of  the  Medical  College 
and  the  expense  of  making  such  Insurance  on  that  building  as  the  Cor- 
poration shall  approve. 

"3.     To  defray  the  expense  of  janitor. 

"  4.  Whatever  balance  may  remain  after  defraying  the  expense  above 
specified  to  be  invested  by  the  Faculty  in  such  manner  as  the  Treasurer 
shall  approve,  and  to  constitute  a  fund  from  which  any  extraordinary 
expense  on  the  building,  which  the  Corporation  shall  from  time  to  time 
authorize,  may  be  defrayed. 

"  The  Faculty  is  to  render  annually  an  account  of  their  receipts  and 
expenditures  supported  by  proper  vouchers,  the  Corporation  to  have  a 
right  to  rescind  this  agreement  whenever  they  see  fit. 

"  Signed,  Eben  Francis,  Treas. ;  F.  C.  Gray,  Com.  for  Corp.  of  Harvard 
College. 

"  For  the  Faculty, 

"  Walter  Channing,  Dean." 

The  first   Treasurer's   report  of   which   there  is   record   is 
dated : 

April  9,   1823 — Disbursements   Amount  to $781.86 

Received    556-77 


Balance    $225.09 

which  was  provided  for. 
"  Further  that  the  sum   appropriated   for  the   library   was  $132.79,  and, 
"  That  the   Accounts  were  rightly   cast  and  duly  vouched. 

"J.  Jackson,  Treas." 

The  following  arrangement  of  lectures  prevailed,  with  slight 
modifications,  for  more  than  twenty-five  years  after  the  open- 
ing of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital  (1821)  : 


DETAILS  OF  GOVERNMENT  475 

"Hospital,  Medical  Visit  %  before  9  to  VA  11. 

"  Surgery,   Saturday  at   12. 

"Dr.  Jackson  Monday  &  Thursday  3  P.  M.,  other  days  11  to  12. 

"  Dr.  Charming,  Friday  afternoon  at  3      Tuesday  &  Saturday,  9  A.  M. 

"  Dr.  Bigelovv,  Tuesday  3  P.  M.     Wednesday  &  Friday  9  to  10. 

"  Dr.  Warren  daily  at  12. 

The  course  of  lectures  was  changed  in  1827  so  as  to  begin 
on  the  third  Wednesday  in  October,  instead  of  the  correspond- 
ing day  in  November,  and  the  time  allotted  to  the  examination 
of  each  candidate  for  a  degree  was  fixed  at  forty  minutes ;  ten 
minutes  for  surgery  and  anatomy ;  and  from  five  to  eight 
minutes  at  least  for  other  branches.  These  examinations  were 
held  at  the  Medical  School  instead  of  at  the  house  of  some 
member  of  the  Faculty.  The  diplomas  were  signed  by  all 
the  Faculty,  a  custom  which  prevailed  for  many  subsequent 
years,  and  the  successful  candidates  gathered  at  the  house  of 
one  of  the  Faculty  to  receive  their  diplomas.  The  diplomas 
were  granted  semi-annually. 

The  formal  extension  of  the  course  of  lectures  from  thir- 
teen weeks  to  four  months  was  anticipated  by  some  years  prior 
to  183 1.  The  final  step  was  necessary  to  meet  the  demands 
of  the  anatomical  department  as  early  as  February,  1825, 
when  J.  C.  Warren  and  Jacob  Bigelow  were  appointed  a  com- 
mittee to  draw  up  an  Act  on  Dissection.  The  Medical  Faculty 
appropriated  three  hundred  dollars  annually  to  be  at  the  dispo- 
sition of  the  Professor  of  Anatomy  for  the  purpose  of  encour- 
aging the  study  of  practical  anatomy.  In  1830,  the  above 
arrangement  not  proving  satisfactory  to  Warren,  he  agreed  to 
furnish  anatomical  subjects  to  the  students  at  five  dollars  each, 
on  condition  that  the  Faculty  should  pay  him  $200  at  the  close 
of  the  Lectures.  This  sum  was  assessed  on  the  five  professors 
in  the  proportion  which  their  respective  fees  for  tickets  bore 
to  each  other. 

In  1830  the  time  for  beginning  lectures  was  changed  to  the 
third  Wednesday   in   November,  as  the   interests  of  the  ana- 


476  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

tomical  department  required  a  change.  The  discussion  of  the 
changes  led  to  the  adoption  by  the  Corporation  (March  17, 
1831)  of  a  four  mouths  course  of  instruction  beginning  on 
the  third  Wednesday  in  October,  and  a  corresponding  altera- 
tion in  the  Statutes  was  made,  September  22,  183 1,  as  fol- 
lows : 

"  Statutes  of  1831. 

"  I.  The  Faculty  of  Medicine  of  the  University  shall  consist  of  the 
President  and  the  Professors  and  Lecturers  authorized  to  give  instruction 
to  the  medical  students.  This  Faculty  shall  always  have  a  Dean  elected 
by  themselves,  for  such  periods  as  they  may  think  proper,  and  may 
also  adopt  rules  for  their  own  government,  provided  that  the  same  do 
not,    in   any   respect,    contravene   the    laws   of    the    University. 

"  II.  Students  in  medicine,  designing  to  attend  the  Medical  Lectures, 
or  any  of  them,  shall  be  matriculated  in  this  University,  by  entering  their 
names  with  the  Dean  of  the  Faculty  of  Medicine,  to  be  enrolled  by  him; 
and  by  signing  an  obligation  to  submit  to  the  laws  of  the  University, 
and  to  the  direction  of  the  Faculty  of  Medicine. 

"III.  There  shall  be  holden  by  the  Faculty  four  meetings  annually 
for  the  purpose  of  examining  candidates  for  the  degree  in  Doctor  of 
Medicine.  Two  of  these  meetings  shall  be  for  private  and  two  for  public 
examinations.  They  shall  be  holden  in  the  Massachusetts  Medical  College, 
unless  otherwise  specially  ordered.  They  may  be  continued  by  adjourn- 
ment, by  vote  of  the  members  present;  and  if  only  one  member  attend 
at  the  time  and  place  designated,  he  may  adjourn  the  meeting  from 
day  to  day  till  three  members  of  the  Faculty  may  attend  the  meeting. 
Three  members  of  the  Faculty  must  be  present  on  every  examination. 

"  IV.  The  first  meeting  for  private  examinations  in  every  year,  shall 
be  holden  on  the  day  next  succeeding  that  on  which  the  winter  courses 
of  Medical  Lectures  shall  terminate,  at  ten  o'clock,  A.  M.  The  second 
meeting  for  private  examinations  shall  be  holden  on  the  Monday  next 
but  one  preceding  the  day  of  the  annual  Commencement  in  the  University, 
at  ten  o'clock  A.  M.  In  extraordinary  cases,  the  Faculty  may  hold  meet- 
ings  tor   private   examinations   at   other   periods. 

"  V.  The  meetings  for  public  examinations  shall  be  holden  within  one 
week  after  the  termination  of  the  stated  annual  meetings  for  private 
examinations  respectively,  on  such  days  as  the  Faculty  may  appoint,  if 
not  otherwise  ordered  by  the  President.  These  meetings  shall  be  open 
to  the  Governor^  and  Inspectors  of  the  University,  to  the  Fellows  of  the 
Massachusetts  Medical  Society,  and  to  such  other  respectable  persons  as 
may    wish   to   attend   them. 

"  VI.     Every  candidate  for  the  Degree  of  Doctor  in  Medicine  must  com- 


DETAILS  OF  GOVERNMENT  477 

ply  with  the  following  conditions  before  being  admitted  to  a  private 
examination,    viz. : 

"  i.  He  shall  satisfy  the  Faculty  that  be  has  arrived  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one. 

"  2.  He  shall  have  attended  two  courses  of  the  Lectures  delivered  at 
the  Massachusetts  Medical  College  by  each  of  the   Professors.* 

"  3.  He  shall  have  employed  three  years  in  his  professional  studies, 
under  the  direction  of  a  regular  practitioner  of  medicine. 

"  4.  If  he  has  not  received  a  University  education,  he  shall  satisfy  the 
Faculty  of  Medicine  in  respect  to  his  knowledge  of  the  Latin  language 
and  experimental  philosophy. 

"  5.  He  shall,  lour  weeks  previous  to  the  day  on  which  he  presents 
himself  for  examination,  have  given  notice  of  his  intention  to  the  Dean 
of  the  Faculty,  and  at  the  same  time  shall  have  delivered  or  transmitted 
to  the  Dean,  a  dissertation  written  by  himself,  on  some  subject  con- 
nected with  medicine. 

"  VII.  Every  dissertation  shall  be  submitted  by  the  Dean  to  the  exam- 
ination of  the  Faculty  in  the  mode  which  they  shall  point  out. 

"  VIII.  At  the  meetings  for  private  examinations  the  Faculty  shall 
examine  all  those  candidates  who  shall  present  themselves,  after  having 
complied  with  the  conditions  enumerated  in  the  sixth  of  these  statutes, 
viz. :  Anatomy,  Physiology,  Chemistry,  Materia  Medica,  Pharmacy,  Mid- 
wifery, Surgery,  and  the  Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine.  At  these 
meetings  every  candidate  shall  be  examined  separately,  and  the  decision  of 
the  Faculty  in  respect  to  each  shall  be  made  and  declared  to  him  imme- 
diately after  the  examination  has  closed.  The  decision  in  respect  to 
each  candidate  shall  be  determined  by  the  votes  of  the  major  part  of  the 
members  of  the  Faculty  present  at  the  examination  of  the  same ;  and 
this  decision,  if  favorable  to  the  candidate,  shall  be  recorded  by  the 
Dean.  In  the  decisions  to  be  made  at  these  meetings,  regard  shall  be  had 
to  the  dissertations,   as  well   as   to  the  examinations. 

"  IX.  Those  candidates  who  have  been  approved  according  to  the 
eighth  of  these  statutes,  may  present  themselves  at  the  public  examination 
next  ensuing  after  such  approbation.  Each  candidate  so  presenting  him- 
self, shall  then  read  and  defend,  or  be  examined  upon  the  dissertation, 
which  he  shall  have  previously  submitted  to  the  Faculty.  At  the  close 
of  each  public  examination,  the  Faculty  shall  decide  in  respect  to  each 
candidate,  whether  he  shall  be  recommended  as  worthy  of  the  degree 
for  which  he  has  applied.  The  decision  of  the  Faculty  in  respect  to  all 
those  candidates  whom  they  so  recommend,  shall  be  recorded  by  the 
Dean,  and  shall  by  him  be  certified  to  the  President,  to  be  laid  before  the 
Senatus  Academicus. 


*  Amended  January  25,  1834. 


478  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

"  X.  Those  candidates  who  have  received  from  the  Senatus  Academicus 
the  final  approbation,  will  be  directed  by  the  President  to  appear  at  Cam- 
bridge at  such  time  as  he  may  appoint,  and  he  will  then  admit  each  of 
them,  with  the  accustomed  solemnities,  to  the  degree  of  Doctor  in  Medi- 
cine. "  Josiah  Quincy,  President." 

"  September  22,   1831." 

"  Notes. 

"  The  Lectures  for  Medical  Students,  on  the  various  branches  men- 
tioned 111  the  statutes,  are  delivered  at  the  Massachusetts  Medical  College 
in  Boston.  They  commence  annually  on  the  third  Wednesday  in  October, 
and  continue  four  months. 

"  Students  attending  the  Lectures  of  the  Professor  of  Anatomy  and 
Surgery  are  admitted  to  see  the  Surgical  Practice  in  the  Massachusetts 
General  Hospital ;  and  those  attending  the  lectures  of  the  Professor  of 
the  Theory  and  Practice,  are  admitted  to  see  the  Medical  Practice  in 
the  same. 

"  At  the  private  examinations,  the  candidates  will  present  their  certifi- 
cates from  the  Physicians  under  whose  care  they  have  studied ;  also  their 
tickets  of  admission  to  the  several  courses  of  medical  Lectures. 

"  The  fee  for  the  degree  of  Doctor  in  Medicine  is  to  be  paid  to  the 
Dean.  The  fee  is  twenty-three  dollars  for  a  person  who  has  not  taken  a 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  at  any  College  or  University;  eighteen  dollars 
for  one  who  has  taken  the  degree  of  Bachelor;  and  thirteen  for  one  who 
has  taken  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts.  In  these  fees  the  Diploma  is 
included."  * 

James  Jackson  asked  for  an  Assistant  Professor,  and  the 
Corporation  (January  19,  1832)  ; 

"Voted,  That  it  is  expedient  to  appoint  an  Adjunct  Professor  of  the 
Theory  and    Practice  of  Physic  to  hold   the   same  tenure  as  other  Pro- 

:;  The  statutes  of  the  circular  of  1834  are  the  same  as  those  of  1831, 
with  this  addition  in  notes :  "  For  one  month  after  the  close  of  the  Lec- 
tures, the  dissecting  room  of  the  Medical  College  will  be  open  without 
additional  fee ;  and  those  students  who  are  entitled  to  attend  the  practice 
in  the  M.  G.  H.  will  be  permitted  to  continue  their  attendance  on  the 
same."  The  sixth  statute  was  altered  January  24,  1834,  so  as  to  read : 
"  Hp  shall  have  attended  two  courses  of  the  Lectures  delivered  at  the 
Massachusetts  Medical  College  by  each  of  the  Professors,  except  that 
if  he  have  attended  a  course  of  similar  lectures  in  any  other  College  or 
University,  then  the  same  may  take  the  place  of  one  of  the  above  courses."' 


DETAILS  OF  GOVERNMENT  479 

fessors  so  long  as  the  present  Professor  in  that  Department  shall  continue 
in  office. 

"  Voted,  That  the  duties  and  emoluments  of  the  Professorship  be  divided 
between  the  Professor  and  Adjunct  Professor  in  such  manner  as  may 
be  agreed  on  between  them  without  any  additional  expense  to  the  students 
or  to  the  College." 

It  was  then  voted  to  proceed  to  the  election  of  an  Adjunct 
Professor  of  the  Theory  and  Practice  of  Physic,  when  John 
Ware  was  elected. 

On  January  15,  1835,  the  Corporation  voted  to  establish  a 
professorship  of  the  Principles  of  Surgery  and  of  Clinical 
Surgery,  and  adopted  the  following  statutes : 

"  I.  The  Professor  in  this  Department  shall  be  styled  Professor  of  the 
Principles  of  Surgery  and  Clinical  Surgery. 

"  IT.  The  Professor  shall  be  appointed  in  the  same  manner  and  shall 
hold  his  office  by  the  same  terms  as  other  Professors  in  the  University, 
and  shall  be  subject  to  removal  by  the  President  and  Fellows  for  any 
cause  by  them   deemed   sufficient,  the  Overseers  consenting  thereto. 

"  III.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Professor  to  give  Elementary  Lec- 
tures on  the  Principles  of  Surgery,  and  Clinical  Lectures  on  the  surgical 
cases  in  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital. 

"  IV.  The  same  attendance  on  the  Lectures  in  this  Department  shall 
be  required  of  the  Candidate  for  the  Degree  Doctor  in  Medicine  in  the 
University  as  is  required  on  the  Lectures  in  other  Departments  of  the 
Medical  Faculty." 

George  Hayward  was  then  elected  to  the  newly  created 
office,  and  it  was  further  voted  that  the  Professor  of  Surgery 
be  allowed  to  charge  a  fee  of  ten  dollars  for  attendance  on 
his  lectures.*  It  was  distinctly  provided  that  this  new  Pro- 
fessor should  have  no  such  connection  with  the  Professor 
of  Anatomy  and  Surgery  as  to  occupy  any  of  his  rooms  at 
the  Medical  College.  Warren,  in  his  report  of  1832,  had  stated 
that  he  was  willing  to  give  up  the  department  of  Surgery,  and 

*  Hayward  had  been  requested  by  vote  of  the  Corporation,  April  17, 
1834,  to  deliver  a  course  of  Lectures  on  Surgery  at  the  Medical  School, 
and  attendance  by  students  was  made  a  condition  for  the  Degree. 


480  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

also  one-quarter  part  of  his  fees,  provided  no  new  Professor 
interfered  with  his  arrangements  in  Anatomy§. 

James  Jackson  resigned  on  April  21,  1836,  and  the  Cor- 
poration expressed  its  regret  by  passing  a  resolution  embody- 
ing this  sentiment.  On  July  20,  1837,  he  was  chosen  Emeritus 
Professor  of  Medicine  in  the  University,  "in  consideration  of 
his  faithful  and  valuable  service  as  Hersey  Professor  of  the 
Theory  and  Practice  of  Physic".  John  Ware  was  elected 
Hersey  Professor,  June  16,  1836,  and  at  the  same  Corpora- 
tion meeting  a  committee  was  appointed  to  consider  what 
changes  were  expedient  in  the  situation  for  this  professorship. 
At  the  meeting  of  the  Corporation  held  August  18,  1836, 
John  Ware  presented  letters  relating  to  the  need  of  Clinical 
Lectures  in  his  department.  It  was  thereupon  voted  that  Jacob 
Bigelow  be  appointed  Lecturer  in  Clinical  Medicine  in  the 
Medical  College.  His  compensation  was  to  be  made  up  from 
that  of  the  Lectures  on  the  Theory  and  Practice  of  Physic* 

The  accommodations  at  the  Medical  School  were  already 
too  small  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  increased  number 
of  students.  Warren  wrote  to  the  Committee  appointed  by  the 
Corporation  to  investigate  the  needs  of  the  Medical  School : 

"To  Nath.  Bowditch  &  T.  W.   Ward.   Esqrs  :— 

"  Gentlemen,  Sometime  since  we  were  informed  that  you  were  ap- 
pointed  by    the   Corporation    of    Harvard    University   a   committee    on   an 

§  The  separation  of  the  professorships  (Anatomy  and  Surgery)  was 
tried  at  Edinburgh  in  1777,  but  was  opposed  by  Monro  on  the  ground 
that  it  would  interfere  with  his  subject  (Anatomy).  The  separation  did 
not  take  place  until  1831.  Surgery  and  Anatomy  were  separated  in  1805 
at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  in  1810  Anatomy  and  Midwifery 
'..ere  separated  at  the  same  University.  In  the  New  York  School,  Mid- 
wifery was  recognized  as  a  separate  branch  from  the  start   (1768). 

*  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  at  this  same  meeting  (August  18,  1836) 
Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  was  awarded  the  Boylston  prize  of  $50,  or  a 
medal,  for  nis  essay,  "  How  far  are  the  external  means  of  exploring  the 
condition  of  the  internal  organs  to  be  considered  useful  and  important 
in   medical  practice?" 


DETAILS  OF  GOVERNMENT  481 

application  of  the  Medical  Faculty  of  the   University  for  an  enlargement 
of  the  accommodations  in  the  Medical  College. 

"  From  some  slight  intimations  it  was  thought  that  the  Corporation 
would  give  some  aid  towards  this  project,  if  the  Med.  Faculty  wd.  on 
their  part,  obtain  the  subscription  of  a  further  sum  from  gentlemen 
in  Boston.  This  having  been  suggested  to  the  Med.  Faculty,  they  were 
of  opinion,  that  it  wd.  not  be  practicable  to  raise  any  considerable  sum 
in  the  way  proposed. 

"  The  imperious  necessity  of  the  proposed  improvements  has  led  me, 
the  party  principally  interested,  to  turn  over  the  matter  with  the  hope  of 
accomplishing  that  amelioration  in  the  department  of  anatomy  which 
appears  to  me  to  be  so  important ;    the  following  has  occurred  to  me : — 

''  Instead  of  making  any  alteration  in  the  body  of  the  Med.  College,  I 
propose  to  erect  a  new  one  story  building  on  the  unoccupied  land  behind 
the  college  for  an  anatomical  room;  &  to  convert  the  present  dissecting 
room   into  a  hall  for  the  anatomical  collection. 

"  A  committee  of  the  Medical  Faculty  have  examined  &  approved  of 
this  plan  generally :  but  I  have  not  thought  it  proper  to  have  any  detailed 
plans  drawn,  or  estimates  made,  until  the  approbation  of  your  com- 
mittee has  been  obtained. 

"The  advantages  of  the  project  are  these: — The  cost  of  these  improve- 
ments will  probably  be  not  more  than  half  of  those  proposed  at  first. 
The  dissecting  room  will  be  removed  from  the  interior  of  the  College, 
which  is  highly  desirable.  The  anatomical  room  will  receive  a  number  of 
improvements,  wh.  the  state  of  the  medical  school  renders  highly  im- 
portant. 

"  In  order  to  raise  the  funds  I  wd.  propose  the  following  scheme. 
Viz:  That  the  corporation  advance  a  certain  sum  such  as  they  judge 
proper ;  &  if  not  sufficient  that  the  balance  be  made  up  by  a  loan  to 
the  department  of  anatomy,  the  interest  to  be  deducted  from  the  salary  of 
said  department. 

"  It  is  with  extreme  reluctance,  Gentlemen,  that  I  trouble  you  on  this 
subject:  but  it  does  appear  to  me  that  the  proposed  improvements  slid, 
take  place  in  some  way  or  other;  &  I  must  beg  you,  as  the  Directors  of 
literature  &  science,  to  give  it  that  consideration  it  deserves ;  &  if  the 
plan  proposed  does  not  meet  your  approbation,  that  you  will  substitute 
some   oilier,   such   as   your   wisdom   may   judge   more   expedient. 

"  I  shall  be  ready  to  enter  into  more  exact  details  if  you  slid,  be  willing 
to  give  your  attention  to  the  subject. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be 

"  Very  respectfully 

"Yr  obedt  servt,  John  C.  Warren." 
"  Boston    Nov   23rd.    1835." 

"  Perhaps  I  shd.  have  mentioned  that   a  new  dissecting  room  has  been 


482  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

established  wh.  has  already  drawn  some  pupils  from  us.  This  is  con- 
sidered by  many  of  the  profession  as  the  first  step  towards  the  formation 
of  a  new  medical  school  in  Boston." 

The  Corporation  authorized  the  Treasurer*  to  pay  two 
thousand  dollars  towards  repairing  the  Medical  College,  pro- 
vided the  whole  expense  exceeded  three  thousand  dollars. 
These  improvements  consisted  in  building  a  new  dissecting 
room,  equal  to  any  in  the  country ;  and  in  converting  the  old 
dissecting  room  into  a  handsome  museum,  while  the  old  mu- 
seum was  made  over  into  a  dissecting  room  for  the  lectures. 

An  effort  was  made  in  1836  to  have  the  examinations  for 
medical  degrees  conducted  in  writing.  The  only  result  of 
the  discussion  was  the  arrangement  of  the  private  examina- 
tion, so  that  the  examination  began  at  three  o'clock  and  con- 
tinued until  ten,  and  it  was  understood  that  all  the  members  of 
the  Faculty  were  to  be  present. 

The  dearth  of  anatomical  material  at  this  period  led  the 
Faculty  to  remonstrate  to  the  Mayor  and  Board  of  Aldermen 
against  the  granting  of  bodies  for  dissection  to  persons  other 
than  the  Medical  School  of  Harvard  University  during  the 
Lecture  course  in  the  Medical  College.  This  bore  directly 
on  the  suggestion  in  the  last  part  of  Warren's  letter,  just 
quoted,  for  then  (1835)  was  the  beginning  of  private  medical 
schools  in  Boston,  a  fact  to  be  borne  in  mind.  Warren's  lec- 
tures during  his  absence  in  Europe  (1837-38)  were  given  by 
Edward  Reynolds,  on  Anatomy,  and  by  Hayward  on  Oper- 
ative Surgery. 

On  June  t,  1839,  it  was  voted  by  the  Medical  Faculty  that 
the  Lectures  continue  four  months;  and  in  May  of  the  fol- 
lowing year  examinations  in  Latin  and  Natural  Philosophy 
were  dispensed  with,  when  the  student  could  furnish  a  cer- 
tificate of  competency  in  those  branches. 

*  Corporation  Records,  February,  1836. 


DETAILS  OF  GOVERNMENT  483 

May  29,  1841,  it  was  voted,  ''That  hereafter  two  full 
courses  of  lectures  in  this  school  be  required  of  candidates  for 
the  Degree  of  Doctor  in  Medicine.  But  for  one  of  these 
courses  a  substitute  may  be  received  in  a  course  of  lectures 
at  any  other  medical  institution  in  which  the  number  of  teach- 
ers is  not  less  than  six  and  in  which  the  time  occupied  by  lec- 
tures is  not  less  than  four  months." 

The  students  were  now  divided  into  grades.  The  official 
interpretation  of  a  four  months'  course  was  seventeen  weeks. 
The  fee  for  a  degree  was  now  $20.00,  and  soon  after  (May, 
1844)  a  matriculation  fee  of  $3.00  was  established.  These 
lees  were  appropriated  to  the  increase  and  care  of  the  library 
and  to  repairs.  Students  were  exempted  from  paying  a  sec- 
ond matriculation  fee,  but  in  1847  it  was  ordered  that  they 
pay  a  matriculation  fee  each  year  they  attended  lectures. 

About  this  time  private  medical  schools  began  to  flourish, 
and  for  the  following  thirty  years  were  a  factor  in  the  history 
of  the  Harvard  Medical  School.  Let  us  briefly  consider  to 
what  state  of  development  our  School  had  reached  before  we 
take  up  the  question  of  private  schools. 

In  1841  there  were  118  students  registered  at  the  School. 
The  Lectures  began  on  the  first  Wednesday  in  November,  and 
continued  four  months.  The  course  opened  with  an  intro- 
ductory lecture,  each  Professor  in  rotation  delivering  this. 
This  custom  was  followed  for  many  years,  and  is  still  main- 
tained in  some  schools  of  the  country.  The  lectures  and  cost 
were  as  follows: 

Anatomy  and  Operative  Surgery,  by  Dr.  J.  C.  Warren,  $15. 
Midwifery  and  Medical  Jurisprudence,  by  Dr.  W.   Channing,  $10. 
Materia  Medica,  by  Dr.  Jacob  Bigelow,  $10. 

Principles  of  Surgery  and  Clinical  Surgery,  by  Dr.  Geo.  Hayward,  $10. 
CTeimistry,  by  Dr.  John  W.  Webster,  $15. 

Theory   and    Practice   and    Clinical    Medicine,   by    Dr.   John    Ware    and 
Dr.  Jacob  Bigelow,  $15. 


484  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

'  The  hospital  and  library  privileges  are  gratuitous.  The  fee  for  the 
dissecting   room   is  five   dollars. 

'The  clinical  lectures  in  Medicine  and  Surgery  are  given  on  cases 
in  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  where  visits  are  made  by  the 
class  three  times  a  week.  Surgical  operations  are  daily  growing  more 
frequent  at  the  hospital  and  the  students  are  encouraged  to  witness 
the  same. 

"  Lectures  on  Anatomy  and  Operative  Surgery  are  delivered  daily,  and 
are  arranged  to  supplement  each  other.  The  large  Cabinet  of  Dr.  Warren, 
lately  enriched  by  his  visit  to  Europe,  by  the  addition  of  wax  prepara- 
tions to  demonstrate  various  tumors  and  diseases  of  the  skin,  is  used  in 
this  course.  Exceptional  facilities  for  carrying  on  private  dissections  are 
offered  by  the  school,  and  a  demonstrator  of  Anatomy  has  been  added 
to  this  branch.  Midwifery  and  Medical  jurisprudence  are  under  one 
Professor.  Between  forty-five  and  fifty  lectures  are  regularly  given  in 
Midwifery,  besides  the  lectures  given  in  operative  midwifery.  The  class 
is  divided  into  sections,  and  these  meet  the  professor  in  the  afternoon,  and 
as  often  as  may  be  necessary,  for  the  purpose  of  conference  and  quiz. 
Exercises  upon  the  manikin  are  conducted  to  shew  the  use  of  the  instru- 
ments in  operative  cases. 

"  The  lectures  on  Medical  Juresprudence  are  confined  to  the  statement 
of  the  principles,  with  illustrations  by  cases.  The  lectures  on  Materia 
Medica  consist  of  the  history  of  various  articles  used  in  Medicine, — their 
preparation,  form  and  properties,  as  well  as  their  doses  and  application  to 
the  treatment  of  disease. 

"  The  lectures  on  the  Principles  of  Surgery  and  Clinical  Surgery  con- 
tinue four  months  during  which  the  students  visit  the  surgical  patients 
and  attend  all  the  operations  at  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital.  Cases 
recently  admitted  are  used  to   demonstrate  the  lectures. 

'  The  Chemical  lectures  continue  four  months,  with  five  lectures  each 
week.  During  this  course  several  lectures  are  given  on  such  parts  of 
Natural  Philosophy  as  are  required  by  students  who  have  not  had  a  col- 
legiate   education. 

'  The  course  of  the  Theory  and  Practice  of  Physic  embraces  the  lec- 
tures given  at  the  Medical  School  on  the  general  principles  of  Pathology 
and  Therapeutics,  and  on  the  history  and  treatment  of  particular  diseases; 
and  the  clinical  lectures  given  at  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital. 
These  clinical  lectures  are  given  twice  a  week,  and  occupy  two  hours 
each. 

"  Each  student  visits  patients  and  practices  auscultation  and  percussion. 

'The  requirements  for  a  Degree  are:  an  age  of  at  least  2r  years,  three 
years  study  of  medicine,  the  attendance  upon  two  full  courses  of  lectures, — 
one  of  these  at  least  must  have  been  attended  at  this  school,  the  other  in 
this   or   in   any   other   school   which    shall    furnish   equal   opportunities   for 


DETAILS  OF  GOVERNMENT  485 

medical  education,  i.  e.  a  school  in  which  the  number  of  teachers  is  not 
less  than  six.  and  in  which  the  time  occupied  by  lectures  is  not  less  than 
four  months.  Candidates  who  have  not  had  an  University  education 
shall  satisfy  the  Faculty  of  Medicine  in  regard  to  their  knowledge  of  the 
Latin  language  and  experimental  philosophy, — certificates  of  competency 
in  this  condition  will  be  accepted  in  lieu  of  such  an  examination.  There 
are  two  examinations  annually  for  a  degree,  one  on  the  day  before  the 
close  of  the  winter  term,  and  the  second  one  week  before  commencement; 
four  weeks'  notice  is  required  from  those  intending  to  apply  for  a  degree, 
ard   a   dissertation   must   accompany   this   notice." 

The  advertisement  of  the  Faculty  states :  "Taking  into  view 
the  amount  of  instruction  given  in  this  school,  the  splendid 
and  extensive  apparatus  with  which  it  is  furnished,  its  con- 
nection with  the  numerous  cases  and  operations  of  one  of 
the  best  conducted  hospitals  in  the  United  States,  together 
with  the  general  thorough  acquisition  and  high  respectability 
of  its  graduates,  it  may  be  doubted  whether  any  seminary  in 
the  country  offers  the  means  of  a  more  complete  professional 
education,  than  may  be  obtained  in  the  Medical  School  in 
Boston". 

The  extension  in  the  time  of  lectures  from  three  to  four 
months  was  due  to  several  causes.  There  was  more  or  less 
dissatisfaction  on  account  of  the  two  subjects,  Anatomy  and 
Surgery,  being  under  one  professor,  also  because  no  pro- 
visions were  made  for  an  anatomical  demonstrator.  Condi- 
tions at  Harvard  were  such  that  it  was  thought  expedient  to 
lengthen  the  course  rather  than  to  divide  the  professorship. 

In  answer  to  the  second  cause  of  complaint — a  lack  of 
anatomical  demonstrations — it  must  be  said  that  prior  to  this 
time  it  was  contrary  to  law  to  study  anatomy,  hence  the  im- 
propriety of  having  a  demonstrator  of  that  branch.  It  is  not 
denied  that  the  students  had  enjoyed  some  privileges  in  this 
line,  but  such  privileges  were  from  the  free  offering  of  indi- 
viduals connected  with  the  school,  and.  if  known,  were  not 
recognized  by  the  University.     The  passage  of  the  Anatomy 


486  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Law  of  1830  extended  the  protection  of  the  State  to  the  study 
of  anatomy,  and  did  much  to  extend  the  length  of  time  for 
study  at  the  Medical  School. 

Winslow  Lewis,  Jr.,  was  added  to  the  Faculty  in  1831,  as 
Demonstrator  in  Anatomy.  The  holding  of  regular  Faculty 
Meetings  was  ordered  in  1833,  and  it  was  decided  that  a  can- 
didate for  the  degree  must  actually  attend  the  lectures  at  the 
school,  and  must  first  pass  a  satisfactory  examination  in  natu- 
ral philosophy  before  he  could  take  examinations. 


RIVALS. 


RIVALS  489 


CHAPTER  XX. 


RIVALS. 


The  Berkshire  Medical  Institution — once  famous — was  a 
school  which  calls  for  some  consideration.  I  shall  then  deal 
with  the  subject  of  Private  Medical  Schools. 

The  Berkshire  School  was  incorporated  by  an  Act  of  the 
Legislature  of  Massachusetts,  January  24th,  1823.  It  was 
located  at  Pittsfield,  and  was  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Will- 
iams College.  Now  Williams  College  did  not  have  charter 
rights  to  confer  degrees  in  medicine,*  and  when  it  petitioned 
the  Legislature  for  those  rights  (1824)  it  immediately  encoun- 
tered the  opposition  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society. 
The  Society  contended  that  Williams  should  be  governed 
by  a  Corporation  similar  to  that  of  Harvard  College. §  The 
opposition  of  the  Medical  Society  had  its  effect  finally,  for 
we  find  an  Act  of  the  Legislature  passed  April  1,  1837,  estab- 
lishing a  Board  of  Overseers,  consisting  of  the  Trustees  of 
Williams  College,  the  President  and  two  Secretaries  of  the 
Massachusetts  Medical  Society,  together  with  the  State  Sen- 
ators, for  the  time  being,  from  the  four  Western  Districts. 
The  Medical  Society  thereupon  granted  the  Berkshire  grad- 
uates the  same  rights  and  privileges  as  those  enjoyed  by  Har- 
vard Medical  graduates.  By  this  Act  the  Berkshire  Medical 
Institution    became   an    Independent    Medical    College.      The 

*  The  courts  decided  that  the  M.  D.,  Honorary,  from  Williams  College 
was  invalid,  as  the  holder  did  not  possess  the  education  sufficient  for  a 
degree,  designating  a  highly  qualified  practitioner  of  medicine. 

§  Williams  College  was  under  a  board  of  trustees. 


490  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

course  of  instruction  consisted  of  a  Lecture  Term  and  a  Read- 
ing Term. 

The  Lecture  Term  began  on  the  first  Thursday  of  Septem- 
ber and  continued  fifteen  weeks.  The  fee  for  the  lectures  was 
$40,  with  an  additional  fee  of  $3  for  matriculation,  and  $1 
for  the  use  of  the  library.  Doctors  of  Medicine,  Fellows  of 
the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society,  and  those  who  had  at- 
tended two  full  courses  of  Medical  Lectures  at  an  incorporated 
Medical  School  in  which  the  usual  courses  of  instruction  were 
given,  were  admitted  to  the  lectures  gratuitously,  the  matricu- 
lation fee  and  library  ticket  excepted. 

The  Reading  Term  began  on  the  second  Wednesday  in 
March,  and,  with  an  intermediate  vacation  of  two  weeks  in 
May,  continued  to  the  last  Wednesday  in  August.  A  system- 
atic course  of  instructions  and  recitations  was  carried  on  in 
practical  Anatomy  and  demonstrative  Surgery  during  the  first 
three  months  of  the  term,  and  a  like  course  of  recitations  on 
Surgery  and  Obstetrics  for  the  remainder  of  the  term.  These 
courses  included  Theory  and  Practice,  Materia  Medica  and 
Pharmacy  during  the  term,  and  Chemistry,  Botany,  Miner- 
alogy and  Geology,  and  Natural  Philosophy,  during  parts  of 
the  term.  Students  attending  the  reading  term  were  required 
to  read  semi-monthly  a  dissertation  of  their  own  composing, 
on  some  subject  connected  with  medicine.  Public  examina- 
tions were  held  on  the  last  day  of  the  term. 

Degrees  were  conferred  at  the  close  of  the  lecture  term, 
and  at  the  Commencement  of  Williams  College.  The  prere- 
quisites for  a  degree  were:  three  full  years  of  study  (includ- 
ing the  time  devoted  to  lectures)  with  a  regularly  practicing 
physician,  and  adequate  knowledge  of  the  Latin  language, 
attendance  on  two  full  courses  of  Medical  Lectures,  one  of 
which  must  be  at  the  Institution,  and  a  dissertation  on  some 
medical  subject  which  must  be  publicly  read  and  defended. 
There  was  a  graduation  fee  of  $15.     The  Faculty  of  Medicine 


RIVALS  491 

consisted  of  Henry  H.  Childs,  who  was  active  in  establishing 
the  school,  (he  was  elected  the  first  Professor  of  the  Theory 
and  Practice  of  Medicine,  later  he  was  Lieutenant  Governor 
of  Massachusetts)  ;  Chester  Dewey,  Professor  of  Chemistry, 
Botany,  Mineralogy,  and  Natural  Philosophy ;  John  D.  Wells,* 
Professor  of  Anatomy  and  Surgery  at  Bowdoin  College,  who 
was  Lecturer  on  Anatomy  and  Physiology ;  John  Delamater, 
Professor  of  Pharmacy,  Materia  Medica  and  Obstetrics;  and 
Stephen  W.  Williams,  Professor  of  Medical  Jurisprudence. 
In  1826-27  John  P.  Batchelder*  joined  the  Faculty  as  Pro- 
fessor of  the  Principles  and  Practice  of  Surgery,  and  Thomas 
Goodsell  took  the  place  vacated  by  Delamater.  The  first  class 
at  this  school  numbered  84.  The  economical  rate  of  living 
at  Pittsfield  (board,  including  washing,  lodging  and  room- 
rent  $1.75  per  week),  together  with  the  recognized  ability 
of  Childs  as  a  teacher,  gave  this  school  decided  prestige.  It 
was  helped  along  by  the  growing  dissatisfaction  with  the  or- 
ganization of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society,  a  feeling 
that  crystallized  later  into  open  hostility. 

With  conditions  and  a  medical  course,  such  as  I  have  de- 
scribed, contending  in  rivalry,  it  was  but  natural  that  the  Har- 
vard Medical  School  should  lose  many  prospective  pupils  who 
were  attracted  to  the  Pittsfield  School.  This  situation  is 
shown  by  the  accompanying  table  for  fifteen  years : 

HARVARD.  BERKSHIRE. 

Students.       Graduates.  Students.         Graduates. 

1823 78                   15  84                    7 

1824 128                   17  94                  23 

1825 118                  20  112                   21 

1826 HO  25  IO4  26 

1827 84  25  106  25 

1828 83  20  IOO  28 

1829 91  23  108  33 

*  Graduates  of  the  Harvard  Medical   School. 


492  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

HARVARD.  BERKSHIRE. 

Students.  Graduates.                                         Students.        Graduates. 

1830 95  21 

1831 80  23 

1832 83  27 

1833 82  11 

1*34 79  21 

1835 103  20 

1836 118  20 

1837 87  31 

1838 82  26 


84 

22 

91 

24 

103 

22 

104 

40 

IOI 

29 

IOO 

40 

117 

45 

73 

29 

85 

32 

1 501  345  1566  446 

The  Berkshire  School  continued  to  prosper  until  about  1845, 
when  the  increased  number  of  medical  schools  throughout 
the  country,  the  greater  clinical  advantages  afforded  by  schools 
in  large  cities,  where  private  medical  schools  also  offered  the 
student  closer  association  with  his  teachers,  the  rise  of  Thom- 
sonianism  and  Homeopathy,  had  their  effect  on  the  School 
at  Pittsfield.  Then,  too,  there  was  the  action  of  the  Berkshire 
District  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society,  which  in  1846 
took  steps  to  crystallize  opinions  long  held  by  many  of  the 
members.  In  this  action  they  lost  the  moral  support,  at  least, 
of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  toward  their  school. 
It  looked  like  the  181 1  question  over  again.  The  circular  tells 
the  story:  (1846) 

"  To  The  Medical  Profession  of  Massachusetts : 

"  At  the  semi-annual  meeting  of  the  Berkshire  District  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Medical  Society,  held  at  Pittsfield,  on  Wednesday,  the  nth  of 
November,  1846,  the  Committee  appointed  to  address  the  members  of  the 
Profession  in  Massachusetts,  on  the  subject  of  a  STATE  MEDICAL 
SOCIETY,  reported  the  following  Circular,  which  was  unanimously 
adopted,  and  ordered  to  be  printed  and  distributed  to  the  Profession 
throughout   the   Commonwealth: 

"CIRCULAR. 

"  It  is  a  subject  of  congratulation  that  the  profession  of  medicine  is 
largely  sharing  in  the  rapid  progress  of  the  Arts  and  Sciences  which 
distinguishes    the    19th.    century;     notwithstanding    the    variety    of    novel 


RIVALS  493 

forms   which   empiricism   assumes,   and   the   bold   pretensions   of  exclusive 
systems  of  practice. 

"  The  grand  object  of  Medical  Association  is,  we  conceive,  to  contribute 
to  this  progress.  Another,  and  by  no  means  an  unimportant  object,  is  the 
cultivation  of  harmony  and  good  feeling  among  the  members. 

"  Does  the  present  organization  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society 
fully  meet  these  objects?     We  think  not. 

"  While  we  entertain  all  proper  respect  for  the  early  enactment  of  the 
Legislature,  designed  for  the  benefit  of  the  Medical  Profession,  we  must 
recognize  the  principle  that  great  changes  of  circumstances  call  for  corre- 
sponding changes  in  all  human  laws. 

'  The  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  was  formed  in  1781,  when  the 
population  of  the  State  was  relatively  small,  and  the  number  of  physicians 
proportionally  so ;  and  when,  in  consequence  of  the  sparse  and  scat- 
tered population  of  the  country,  the  difficulty  of  communication  between 
the  practitioners  themselves,  and  other  adverse  circumstances,  the  benefits 
of  Medical  Association  were  of  necessity  chiefly  confined  to  Boston  and 
a  few  large  towns. 

"  The  present  organization  might  have  been  well  adapted  to  the  then 
existing  state  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  wholly  inappropriate  now. 
*     *     *     We  state  a  few  facts. 

"  In  the  county  of  Berkshire  there  are  about  one  hundred  regular  physi- 
cians, and  of  these  only  about  twenty  are  members  of  the  Massachusetts 
Medical  Society. 

"  In  some  of  the  other  counties  the  number  of  the  regular  Physicians 
exceeds  that  of  the  members  in  nearly  the  same  ratio. 

"  It  is  believed  that  not  one-half  of  the  regular  physicians  in  the  State 
belong  to  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society. 

"  In  this  county,  great  efforts  have  been  made,  at  different  times,  to 
induce  Physicians  to  join  the  Society,  but  with  very  little  success,  as  its 
present  condition  and  numbers  attest. 

"  The  uniform  objection  urged  against  connecting  with  the  Society  is, 
that  under  its  present  organization  the  burdens  of  the  State  Society  must 
be  borne  by  all,  while  its  benefits  are  in  a  great  degree  confined  to  a  fezv. 

"  It  will  be  remembered  that,  in  order  to  be  a  member  of  a  District 
Society,  the  physician  must  first  become  a  fellow  of  the  Massachusetts 
Medical  Society ;  and  thus  the  State  Society,  instead  of  cherishing  the 
District  Societies,  has  become  the  great  obstacle  of  their  success. 

"We  only  allude  to  the  fact  that  the  funds,  the  library,  and  the  meetings 
are  confined  to  the  city  of  Boston,  and  can  be  of  little  advantage  to  tin- 
great  majority  of  the  members. 

"Without  going  farther  into  details,  with  which  all  the  members  are 
familiar,  this   Society   deems   it   a   duty   to   express   its   unanimous   opinion 


494  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

that  the  present  organization  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  is 
radically  defective,  in  that  the  District  Societies  are  made  the  creatures 
of  the  State  Society,  and  that,  while  this  obnoxious  feature  is  retained,  it 
will  effectually  defeat  all  endeavors  to  elevate  the  condition  of  the  local 
District   Societies. 

'  The  new  plan  of  organization  which  this  Society  beg  leave  to  suggest, 
is  essentially  that  now  in  successful  operation  in  New  York,  Connecticut 
and  other  States. 

"By  the  adoption  of  this  plan  the  profession  in  each  County  or  District 
will  form  for  themselves  local  County  or  District  Societies,  and  the  State 
Society  will  be  composed  of  Delegates  from  the  several  local  Societies. 

'  Thus  the  whole  profession  of  the  State  would  enjoy  all  the  advantages 
of  the  local  associations  untrammelled — and  with  them,  all  the  benefits 
that  can  flow  from  any  State  Medical  Society. 

"  In  accordance  with  these  views,  a  Memorial,  signed  by  every  regular 
physician  in  the  County  of  Berkshire,  will  be  presented  to  the  next  legis- 
lature, praying  that  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  may  be  reorganised 
and  in  default  of  such  reorganization,  that  the  Profession  in  the  County  of 
Berkshire  may  be  constituted  a  separate  and  distinct  Medical  Society, 
clothed  with  the  usual  powers  and  privileges  pertaining  to  such  bodies. 

'  The  first  of  these  two  alternatives  we  should  greatly  prefer — believing 
it,  as  we  do,  to  be  a  measure  fraught  with  good  to  the  whole  Profession 
of  the  State. 

'  The  Profession  in  the  several  Counties  are  respectfully  invited  to  con- 
sider the  matter,  and,  if  it  meet  their  views,  to  co-operate  with  the  Pro- 
fession in  this  County  in  this  and  all  other  honorable  means  for  securing 
so  desirable   a   result. 

"  R.  W.  Worthington,  of  Lenox,       "  Selden  Jennings,  of  Richmond, 
"H.  H.  Childs,  of  Pittsfield,  "  W.  L.  Fitch,  of  Otis, 

"  Millen  Saein,  of  Lenox,  "  N.  S.  Babbit,  of  Adams, 

"  H.  L.  Sabin,  of  Williamstown."  Committee. 

'Pittsfield.  November  nth,  1846." 

The  fifteen  weeks  term  was  maintained  at  the  Berkshire 
School  more  or  less  faithfully  until  1849,  when  a  Lecture 
Term  of  sixteen  weeks  and  two  Reading  Terms  were  adopted 
upon  the  suggestion  of  the  American  Medical  Association. 
In  1866  the  course  was  changed  so  as  to  begin  in  June  and 
continue  eighteen  weeks.  This  made  it  a  summer  school, 
and  its  final  catalogue  issued  in  1867  announces  that  the 
course  is  thus  arranged   in  order  that   "students  can  attend 


RIVALS  495 

without  interfering  with  the  autumn,  winter  or  spring  course 
in  other  colleges.'' 

In  the  forty-five  years  of  its  existence,  the  Berkshire  Med- 
ical School  had  in  its  Faculty  such  men  as  Alonzo  Clark, 
Gilman  Kimball,  Willard  Parker,  Elisha  Bartlett,  Timothy 
Childs,  J.  V.  C.  Smith,  Horatio  R.  Storer,  B.  J.  Jeffries, 
Robert  Watts,  Jr.,  and  others.  It  certainly  was  a  vigorous 
rival  for  Harvard.  In  Boston,  however,  there  were  medical 
schools  conducted  by  groups  of  physicians  who  saw  in  the 
defective  system  of  medical  education  then  prevailing  through- 
out the  country  an  opportunity  for  supplying  some  of  the 
needs  of  those  students  who  sought  better  things,  and  at  the 
same  time  for  adding  materially  to  their  own  incomes.  Let  us 
recall  the  truth  that  the  School  which  we  know  to-day  was 
to  all  intents  a  private  medical  school  up  to  the  year  1869. 
Its  degree  bore  the  stamp  of  Harvard,  and  a  prestige  was 
thereby  obtained  by  the  graduate,  but  the  fees  from  the  stu- 
dents, excepting  the  graduation  fee,  went  into  the  pockets  of 
the  individual  teachers.  The  lecturers,  in  return,  paid  the 
expenses  incurred  in  conducting  the  school.  The  schools  to 
be  described  now  were  supplementary  to  the  Harvard  School, 
and  out  of  them  grew  the  "summer"  and  "graduate"  courses 
of  the  Harvard  School,  which  to-day  are  among  its  most  im- 
portant features. 

PRIVATE    SCHOOLS. 

As  early  as  1827  Walter  Channing  advertised  a  course  of 
Lectures  on  Midwifery.  These  lectures  were  given  during 
the  summer  months. 

Another  course  by  teachers  connected  with  the  Harvard 
Medical  School  was  one  by  John  C.  Warren,  George  Hayward 
and  Enoch  Hale,  Jr.  These  physicians  gave  instruction  in 
the  various  branches  of  medical  education.  They  furnished 
books  to  the  pupils,  and  had  a  private  room  where  examina- 


496  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

tions  were  frequently  held.  A  strong  attraction  of  this  school 
was  its  facilities  for  dissection.  The  terms  for  the  course 
were  $100  for  a  year,  $75  for  six  months,  and  $50  for  a 
quarter. 

'  The  students,  in  addition  to  the  private  instruction  have  the  privilege 
of  attending  gratuitously  the  Medical  and  Surgical  practice  and  the  Sur- 
gical Operations  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  and  generally 
private  surgical  operations,  during  the  period  of  their  pupilage  ;  and  they 
will  also  have  free  admission  to  the  Lectures  on  Anatomy  and  Surgery, 
delivered  at  the  Medical  School  of  Harvard  University.  Clinical  Lecture 
on  Surgery  are  occasionally  given." 

Another  very  strong  and  popular  school  was  formed  by  the 
combination  of  Walter  Channing,  John  Ware,  George  W. 
Otis,  Jr.,  and  Winslow  Lewis,  Jr.  Later  these  men  were 
joined  by  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  and  James  Jackson.  The 
school  was  organized  as  follows : 

"  Midwifery  and  Diseases  of  Women  and  Children,  by  Dr.  Walter 
Channing. 

"  Physiology,  Pathology,  Therapeutics  and  Materia  Medica,  by  Dr.  John 
Ware. 

"  Principle;   and   Practice  of  Surgery,  by  Dr.  Geo.   W.  Otis,  Jr. 

"  Anatomy,  Human  and  Comparative,  by  Dr.  Winslow  Lewis,  Jr." 

The  advertisement  says,  "The  pupils  will  be  admitted  to 
the  practice  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  and  will 
receive  clinical  lectures  on  the  cases  which  they  witness  there. 
Instruction  by  examination  or  lectures  will  be  given  at  inter- 
vals of  the  Public  Lectures  of  the  University".  The  fees 
were  $100  for  one  year,  $75  for  six  months,  $50  for  three 
months.  A  room  was  provided  at  Channing's  house,  Tremont 
Street,  opposite  the  Tremont  House.  Channing  was  Dean 
of  the  Harvard  Medial  School  at  this  time  (1834). 

The  Tremont  Street  Medical  School  was  established  in 
Boston  in  1838.*     It  was  designed  to  give  medical  students  a 

*  Incorporated   1850. 


RIVALS  497 

thorough  course  of  instruction  throughout  the  year.  It  was 
a  private  school,  and  had  for  its  first  corps  of  teachers  Jacob 
Bigelow,  on  the  Practice  of  Medicine  and  Materia  Medica ; 
Edward  Reynolds,  on  Anatomy  and  Surgery;  D.  Humphreys 
Storer,  on  Midwifery  and  Chemistry;  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes, 
on  Physiology  and  Pathology.  The  rooms  of  the  school  were 
at  33  Tremont  Row,  over  Burnett's  apothecary  store.  There 
was  also  a  private  dissecting  room  in  the  rear  of  the  Savings 
Bank  on  Tremont  Street,  near  Court  Street.  These  rooms 
were  open  to  students  from  6  A.  M.,  to  io  P.  M.  and  were 
furnished  with  plates,  preparations,  articles  of  the  Materia 
Medica,  etc.  The  year  was  divided  into  two  terms :  the  sum- 
mer term,  from  March  i  to  November  i,  and  the  winter  term, 
from  November  i  to  March  i.  During  the  winter  months 
the  exercises  were  held  usually  in  the  evening,  and  comprised 
examinations  on  the  subjects  of  the  lectures  at  the  Harvard 
School.  Special  attention  was  paid  to  those  students  about 
to  present  themselves  for  graduation  at  the  Harvard  School. 
The  summer  course  consisted  of  a  daily  recitation  at  12  noon, 
upon  the  subjects  on  which  lectures  had  been  delivered  during 
the  regular  term  at  the  Harvard  School,  together  with  a  series 
of  lectures  upon  special  subjects,  to  meet  the  wants  of  indi- 
vidual students.  The  fees  for  this  private  school  were  $90 
for  the  summer  term,  and  $10  for  the  winter  term. 

The  advantages  claimed  for  private  schools  were  that  they 
substituted  a  systematic  course  of  instruction  for  the  uncertain 
method  of  "reading"  then  extensively  used;  that  they  divided 
the  labor  of  instruction  among  a  number  of  teachers  instead 
of  limiting  it  to  one,  often  busy,  practitioner;  that  the  stu- 
dent could  with  profit  more  readily  select  certain  branches 
of  study  during  different  years;  that  the  student  who  wished 
to  pursue  a  special  line,  either  from  choice  or  on  account  of 
a  knowledge  of  his  deficiencies  in  some  branch,  was  better 
supplied  with  material  than  he  would  be  by  either  the  appren- 


498  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

ticeship  plan,  or  by  the  short  course  offered  at  Harvard.* 
There  can  he  little  doubt  that  while  the  old  method  of  "read- 
ing" with  a  busy  practitioner  was  productive  of  creditable 
results  when  the  student  was  trained  to  study,  or  was  com- 
pelled by  the  exigencies  of  time  to  make  the  most  of  his  ad- 
vantages, yet  in  a  far  greater  number  of  cases  it  tended  to 
cultivate  the  habit  of  superficial  observation  leading  to  imper- 
fect knowledge, — results  which  accounted  for  the  frequent 
low  standard  of  medical  education  in  this  country. 

The  Tremont  School,  as  it  was  usually  called,  was  a  private 
school  of  the  best  type.  Its  teachers  were  well  trained  physi- 
cians who  made  sacrifices  in  order  to  give  young  men  a 
complete  course  of  instruction,  without  increasing  the  pecuniary 
burden  to  the  student.  As  time  went  on,  and  conditions  seemed 
to  warrant,  a  larger  corps  of  lecturers  and  instructors  was  se- 
cured. The  private  school  rooms  developed  into  a  supple- 
mentary school  to  that  at  Harvard,  and  later  still  the  school 
itself  became  the  official  summer  course  of  the  Harvard  Med- 
ical School.  This  fact  must  not  be  overlooked, — that  through 
the  instrumentality  of  the  Tremont  Street  Medical  School  a 
continuous  course  of  instruction  extending  throughout  the 
year  was  inaugurated  at  Harvard,  first  indirectly,  then, 
through  the  summer  course  directly ;  and  it  is  to  the  existence 
of  this  association  that  the  adoption  of  a  nine  months  course 
as  the  regular  Harvard  term  was  so  long  delayed,  even  after 
the  Chicago  Medical  School  had  shown  successfully  the  advis- 
ability of  establishing  a  lengthened  course  upon  a  graded 
plan.f 

The  Tremont  School  did  another  thing  for  Harvard.      It 

*  The  Medical  School  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  organized  in  1825, 
was  the  only  school  in  the  country  where  a  nine  months'  course  prevailed. 
This  school  started  with  four  professors,  and  inaugurated  the  recitation 
and  demonstration  method. 

t  The  Chicago  Medical  College  was  founded  in  1859,  for  this  express 
purpose. 


RIVALS  499 

developed  a  group  of  brilliant  young  teachers  whose  services 
later  at  Harvard  were  conspicuous.  Such  teachers  as  Oliver 
Wendell  Holmes,  Henry  J.  Bigelow,  Storer,  Agassiz  and 
Jeffries  Wyman  were  among  the  early  teachers.  The  course 
of  lectures  usually  consisted  of  Anatomy :  Recitations  heard 
by  Reynolds  and  Holmes :  a  course  of  lectures  on  Surgical 
Anatomy  by  Holmes,  and  demonstrations  by  a  regular  demon- 
strator ;  Surgery :  A  complete  course  of  eighty  lectures,  in- 
cluding diseases  of  the  eye  and  ear,  by  Reynolds;  Chemistry: 
Recitations  and  instruction  by  Storer;  Physiology  and  Path- 
ology :  Lectures  and  recitations  by  Holmes,  including  a  spe- 
cial course  on  auscultation  and  percussion;  Midwifery:  Reci- 
tations by  Storer,  with  practical  instruction  on  the  application 
of  obstetric  instruments  upon  the  machine  and  model ;  Theory 
and  Practice  of  Medicine,  and  Clinical  Instruction,  as  well 
as  Materia  Medica,  by  Bigelow.  These  courses  were  given  at 
the  School  rooms,  at  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  the 
Eye  and  Ear  Infirmary,  the  Dispensary,  and  the  Children's 
Hospital. 

The  Tremont  School  opened  in  September,  1838,  with  seven- 
teen pupils.  With  its  gradual  development  we  find  its  scope 
widening,  while  the  corps  of  teachers  increased.  Agassiz  gave 
lectures  on  Embryology  and  on  Anatomy;  Wyman  on  Com- 
parative Anatomy;  Gordon  on  Diseases  of  the  Skin;  J.  B.  S. 
Jackson  on  Pathological  Anatomy;  Henry  J.  Bigelow  on  Sur- 
gical Pathology;  George  A.  Bethune  on  the  Eye;  and  Charles 
T.  Jackson  on  Chemistry.  O.  W.  Holmes  gave  special  instruc- 
tion in  Auscultation  and  Percussion,  as  well  as  lectures  and 
demonstrations  upon  Microscopical  Anatomy,  making  use  of 
the  achromatic  microscopes  and  other  new  instruments  intro- 
duced by  him. 

Gradually  the  interests  of  the  Tremont  Street  School  and 
those  of  the  Harvard  Medical  School  grew  together,  and  the 
annual  announcements   of   the    former   came    to   refer   to    the 


500  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

arrangement  of  the  course  of  lectures  as  combining  the  asso- 
ciation of  the  two  schools.  The  Tremont  School  Catalogue 
of  1856  thus  describes  the  "Relations  of  the  Tremont  Medical 
School  to  the  Medical  School  of  Harvard  University". 

'  The  summer  term  of  the  Tremont  Street  Medical  School  begins  at 
the  close  of  the  lectures  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  College  and  con- 
tinues until  the  commencement  of  those  lectures  in  November.  The  in- 
structors are  all  teachers  in  the  College,  and  it  is  their  intention  to  carry 
out  as  far  as  possible  the  course  of  instruction  adopted  in  that  institution. 
During  the  summer  term  they  will  give  instructions  by  recitation  and 
otherwise  upon  the  subjects  on  which  lectures  are  delivered  in  the  winter, 
and  during  the  winter  will  hold  examinations  upon  the  public  lectures  of 
the  College.  The  plan  of  instruction  which  is  proposed  for  the  ensuing- 
year,  and  which  is  a  modification  of  that  which  has  hitherto  been  fol- 
lowed, has  been  selected  with  special  reference  to  the  courses  of  public 
lectures  at  the  College.  The  connection  of  the  two  schools  affords  an 
annual  system  of  instruction  which  it  is  believed  will  be  of  the  greatest 
value  to  students,  and  meet  the  demands  of  the  Frofession  for  the  highest 
grade  of  medical   instruction." 

A  schedule  of  a  course  of  studies  covering  the  period  of 
two  years,  and  another  schedule  showing  how  the  studies  of 
both  years  might  be  combined  in  a  one-year  course,  is  given 
on  page  538. 

The  growth  of  the  Tremont  School  is  best  shown  by  com- 
paring the  number  of  students  with  those  at  the  Harvard 
School  (hiring  corresponding  years:  Tremont.    Harvard. 

1838-39    attendance     1 7  85 

1839-40 "            20  74 

1840-41 "            20  88 

1841-42 "            20  118 

1842-43 "            20  117 

1843-44 20  154 

1844-45 •••••  33  157 

1845-46 30  159 

1846-47 •• 44  164 

1847-48 "     48  139 

1848-49 43  129 

1849-50 36        117 

1850-51 48         116 

1851-52 46        126 


RIVALS  501 

Another  private  school  in  Boston  during  the  time  that  this 
system  was  at  its  height,  was  one  conducted  by  H.  I.  Bow- 
ditch,  H.  G.  Wiley,  G.  C.  Shattuck,  Jr.,  and  S.  Parkman. 
Another  was  by  John  C.  Warren,  John  B.  S.  Jackson,  Robert 
W.  Hooper,  and  J.  Mason  Warren,  who  offered  "every  facility 
for  obtaining  a  complete  medical  education". 

The  Boylston  Medical  School  was  incorporated  by  the  Mas- 
sachusetts Legislature  in  1847.  This  private  school  was  un- 
dertaken by  a  number  of  young  physicians  who  were  seeking 
reforms  in  the  profession.  Their  standard  was  high,  if  we  can 
judge  from  the  statement  sent  out : 

'The  object  is  to  give  as  complete  a  course  of  instruction  by  recitation, 
lectures,  and  practical  study  as  can  be  given  in  this  country.  The  in- 
structors  will   spare   neither   time   nor   expense   to   accomplish   this   object. 

*  *  It  is  the  desire  of  the  instructors  to  send  out  none  but  thorough 
students,  and  with  that  view  they  have  adopted  a  new  plan  of  medical 
study.  The  profession  of  Medicine  is  not  an  easy  one  to  master.  It  re- 
quires time  and  the  most  devoted  attention  on  the  part  of  the  student. 
Even  three  years  of  persevering  effort  is  a  short  time  for  preparatory 
work.  It  is  the  aim  of  the  Instructors  to  instil  into  the  gentlemen  of 
their  school  an  ardent  love  for  their  profession,  as  well  as  to  make  them 
practically  acquainted  with  it.  Deeply  impressed  themselves  with  the  im- 
portance of  a  wider  foundation  for  the  profession  of  medicine,  they  advise 
no  student  to  enter  upon  it  who  has  not  acquired  sufficient  knowledge  of 
the  languages  and  natural  philosophy,  to  enable  him  to  take  that  position 
as  a  man  of  science  which  is  the  duty  of  every  physician." 

One  must  regret  that  the  season  for  sowing  such  seed  was 
not  more  propitious.  The  physicians  conducting  this  School 
were  John  Bacon,  Jr.,  Charles  E.  Buckingham,  Edward  H. 
Clarke,  Samuel  Kneeland,  William  Henry  Thayer,  John  B. 
Walker, — all  Harvard  men,  three  of  them  afterwards  con- 
nected with  the  College.*  The  School  building  was  located 
at  the  corner  of  Essex  and  Washington  Streets.     The  course 

*John  Bacon,  A.  B.  1837;  M.  D.  1840;  Prof.  Chemistry.  Charles  E. 
Buckingham,  A.  B.  1840;  M.  D.  1844:  Adj.  Prof.  Theory  and  Practice  of 
Medicine;  Prof.  Obstetrics  and  Medical  Jurisprudence.  Edward  11. 
Clarke,  A.  B.  1841 ;  M.  D.  Univ.  Pa.  1846;  Prof.  Materia  Medica ;  Overseer. 


502  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

of  study  was  divided  into  a  Junior,  Middle,  and  Senior  year. 
This  was  the  first  New  England  Medical  School,  and  one  of 
the  few  in  this  country,  offering  a  three  years  graded  course. 
The  first  or  Junior  year  was  devoted  to  Anatomy  (practical 
and  general).  Physiology  and  Microscopical  Anatomy,  Chem- 
istry and  Toxicology;  the  second  or  Middle  year:  Principles 
and  Practice  of  Surgery,  Anatomy,  Obstetrics,  Diseases  of 
Women  and  Children,  Materia  Medica  and  Therapeutics;  the 
third  or  Senior  year :  Pathology,  Legal  Medicine,  Theory 
and  Practice,  thorough  review  of  Anatomy,  Physiology  and 
Principles  of  Surgery,  Dissections.  The  winter  term  extended 
from  September  to  March,  and  the  summer  term  from  March 
to  September.  "During  the  four  months  of  November,  De- 
cember, January  and  February,  the  course  of  instruction  at 
the  School  is  somewhat  interrupted  by  the  public  lectures  of 
the  Harvard  Medical  School."  The  fees  were  $100  for  each 
year. 

The  instruction  was  given  by  John  Bacon,  Jr.,  in  Chem- 
istry and  Toxicology;  Charles  E.  Buckingham  in  Obstetrics 
and  Diseases  of  Women  and  Children;  Edward  H.  Clarke  in 
Materia  Medica  and  Therapeutics,  also  in  Aural  Surgery ; 
W.  Henry  Thayer  in  Pathology  and  Legal  Medicine,  also 
Auscultation  and  Percussion;  Henry  G.  Clark  in  Principles 
and  Practice  of  Surgery;  Henry  W.  Williams  in  Principles 
and  Practice  of  Medicine,  and  in  Orthopedic  Surgery ;  George 
H.  Gay  in  Anatomy;  John  C.  Dalton,  Jr.,  in  Physiology  and 
Microscopy.  Special  courses  were  given  by  H.  W.  Williams  on 
the  Eye;  E.  H.  Clarke  on  the  Ear;  H.  G.  Clark  on  Minor  Sur- 
gery and  Bandaging;  H.  I.  Bowditch  on  Auscultation  and 
Percussion ;  Joel  Parker,  Royall  Professor  at  Law,  gave  lec- 
tures on  Medical  Jurisprudence. 

The  advantages  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  the 
Marine  Hospital,  Durkee's  Infirmary  for  Disease  of  the  Skin, 


RIVALS  503 

The  House  of  Industry,  and  the  Eye  and  Ear  Infirmary  were 
offered  by  this  group  of  teachers. 

This  School  had  its  proportion  of  students,  but  it  never 
reached  the  growth  attained  by  the  Tremont  School.  In  1854 
it  petitioned  the  Legislature  for  power  to  give  regular  courses, 
and  to  grant  degrees  in  Medicine.  The  Harvard  Medical 
Faculty  opposed  this  petition,  and  the  following  "Reply  to 
the  Remonstrance"  was  sent  by  the  Boylston  School  to  the 
Legislature: 

"Boston,  March  31st,  1854. 
'  The  medical  schools  in  this  Commonwealth,  during  the  time  when  a 
license  to  practice  was  necessary,  and  a  degree  gave  this  license,  were 
divided  into  the  two  classes  of  schools  which  gave  degrees,  and  those 
which  did  not.  The  distinction  of  public  and  private  has  never  been  known 
among  incorporated  schools :  and  that  of  larger  and  smaller  is  accidental ; 
for  the  schools  which  are  largest  today  may  very  soon  be  smallest.  At 
this  time,  however,  a  degree  is  only  a  testimonial,  indicating  the  holder's 
education,  but  conferring  no  rights;  and  any  man  (or  woman)  may  prac- 
tice medicine,  who  can  find  persons  to  practice  it  upon. 

"  As  a  practical  distinction,  therefore,  none  exists  between  the  two 
classes  of  schools ;  as  an  honorary  distinction  hitherto,  one  has  existed. 
The  medical  department  of  the  University  at  Cambridge  (by  Courtesy,  of 
the  Massachusetts  Medical  College)  has  given  medical  instruction  and, 
under  the  corporate  power  of  the  University,  has  conferred  degrees.  The 
Berkshire  Medical  Institution  is  a  second  pubiic  incorporated  school  con- 
ferring degrees.  The  Boylston  Medical  School  is  a  public  incorporated 
institution,  which  has  not  granted  degrees.  It  now  asks  to  do  this,  by 
legislative  authority ;  and  after  having  held  its  place  long  enough  to  be 
tested  by  the  public,  it  believes  thai  it  is  as  competent  to  distribute  the 
honors  as  it  has  been  to  discharge  the  labors,  of  medical  instruction. 

"  It  was  established  for  two  reasons :  First  because  its  founders  be- 
lieved that  two  schools  were  necessary  in  Boston ;  and  secondly  because 
they  believed  that  a  system  of  instruction,  almost  universal  in  Europe, 
should  be  introduced  into  Massachusetts,  and  could  be  introduced  only 
by  a  second  school.  It  now  asks  additional  powers,  because  seven  years 
have  shown  these  conclusions  just;  and  that  new  powers,  and  more  capital 
can  be  usefully  employed. 

"The  Tremont  School  (recently  incorporated)  consists  of  the  classes 
of  professors  in  the  Massachusetts  Medical  College,  instructed  by  them  in 
vacation.  Under  these  circumstances  it  is,  of  course,  numerous ;  but  the 
Boylston    Medical    School   carries    out   a    system    of   instruction    not    only 


504  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

unlike  that  of  the  Tremont  School,  but  so  hostile  to  that  system,  that,  if 
founded  on  true  principles  it  must,  at  some  time,  quite  supersede  it. 

"  In  the  present  state  of  science,  a  single  school,  however  endowed,  will 
not  most  actively  advance  the  medical  profession,  in  a  large  city ;  but  from 
natural  and  obvious  causes,  whatever  the  merit  of  its  instructors,  their 
zeal  and  success  must  sometimes  fall  below  the  institutions  of  other  dis- 
tricts, where  the  stimulus  is  greater. 

'The  Boylston  Medical  School  is  self-supporting;  and  only  asks  of  the 
Legislature  to  be  placed  on  the  same  footing  with  the  elder  institutions, 
without  other  aid,  and  hopes  in  reasonable  time,  to  equal  them  in  numbers 
and  endowments.  Their  petition  now  seeks  leave  to  increase  their  grow- 
ing museums  to  that  which  is  said  to  be  the  present  value  of  those  owned 
by  the  Massachusetts  Medical   College. 

'  The  number  of  physicians  all  admit  to  be  too  great.  The  Boylston 
School  asks  not  to  make  physicians  more  numerous,  but  better.  And 
they  claim  that  by  raising  the  standard,  they  shall  not  raise  the  num- 
ber. Any  great  increase  in  the  number  of  medical  institutions,  also,  it 
believes,  would  injure  medical  education.  But  it  is  thought  that  their 
total  restriction  may  depress  it  as  much.  The  best  endowed  and  most 
enlightened  monopolies  have  always  proved  incumbrances.  And  it  may 
perhaps  be  doubted,  whether  a  healthy  emulation  would  prove  such  an 
injury  to  the  Massachusetts  Medical  College,  as  its  friends  now  apprehend. 

'  The  Boylston  School  cannot  assent  to  the  position  implied  by  the  re- 
monstrants that  Boston  is  not  a  great  centre  of  medical  education.  It  is 
for  this  purpose  the  natural  centre  of  New  England,  and  the  supply  schools 
and  of  Anatomical  material  is  quite  sufficient  to  maintain  two  schools 
without  any  inducement,  but  the  love  of  knowledge,  to  entice  students  from 
one  to  the  other.  They  make  this  statement  with  regard  to  an  ample 
legitimate  supply  of  bodies  for  dissection,  as  that  of  an  ascertained  fact, 
and  beg  leave  to  refer  to  the  municipal  authorities  of  Boston  who  will 
sustain  it.  They  would  take  no  steps  which  should  compel  the  remon- 
strants, or  themselves  to  infringe  the  anatomy  law;  and  the  suggestion  in 
the  remonstrance  was  the  first  they  have  known  of  it  being  likely  ever  to 
want  the  full  respect  of  the  profession.  Were  it  otherwise,  however,  as 
the  Boylston  School,  including  the  department  of  anatomy,  is  already,  by 
the  aid  of  the  Legislature,  in  full  operation,  they  do  not  see  the  relevancy 
of  this  argument  nor  that  more  bodies  will  be  needed  for  dissection  by 
students  who  will   have   degrees,  than   by  those   who  will  not  have  them. 

"  In  fine,  it  is  respectfully  submitted,  that  the  full  organization  of  a 
second  medical  school,  in  Boston,  with  the  advantage  of  the  European 
system  and  of  instruction  by  recitations  throughout  the  year,  will  benefit 
medical  education  in  New  England  ;  and  that  in  order  to  benefit  medical 
education,  it  is  not  necessary  to  multiply  institutions,  increase  the  number 


RIVALS  505 

of  medical  men,   impoverish   museum,   nor  disturb  the   sacredness  of  the 

£rave-  "  Charles  E.   Buckingham 

"  Edward  H.  Clarke 
"  Henry    G.    Clark 
"  Committee  of  the  Boylston  School." 

This  petition  was  favored  by  the  legislature. 

When  Harvard  enlarged  its  Faulty  and  adopted  the  plan 
of  a  continuous  whole-year  session,  it  won  over  Bacon,  E.  H. 
Clarke,  Buckingham,  and  others  to  its  teaching  staff".  This 
fact  so  crippled  the  Boylston  Medical  School  that  little  is 
heard  of  it  afterwards. 

The  plan  upon  which  all  these  private  schools  was  carried 
on  demonstrated  that  the  community  was  now  ready  for  a 
more  systematic  course  of  medical  studies  than  had  hitherto 
prevailed.  The  establishment  of  Medical  Schools  had  sup- 
plemented the  old  method  of  acquiring  a  medical  education, 
and  the  development  had  gone  onward.  The  private  schools 
in  a  degree  supplemented  the  university  schools,  until,  in 
turn  we  find  Harvard  absorbing  all  that  was  best  of  teachers 
and  plans,  and  establishing  a  summer  course  to  complete  its 
scheme,  giving  medical  students  the  advantages  of  a  whole 
year  of  continuous  instruction  under  the  same  teachers.  This 
move  took  place  in  1857,  and  was  an  important  step  in  Har- 
vard's development. 


NORTH  GROVE  STREET  BUILDING, 

WARREN  MUSEUM, 

NEW  MEN,  STATUTES, 

1847  TO  1854. 


H 
W 
W 

H 

CO 

W 
> 

o 
o 

a 

H 

PS 
O 

w 
o 
w 

o 
u 

u 

I— I 

Q 

w 

S 

C/3 

H 
H 
W 

CO 
ID 

X 
u 

< 

CO 

co 


r*3 

00 

00 


00 


V 

rv 

3    — ' 

y  2 

a    a 

m     <& 

S'B 

2  S 

in    tn 

.~~    •*— * 

r2    Id 

3 

_;    (J 

t=    rt 

n3     en 

C     en 

C     re 

^    — 

i-   *5 

rt 

o 

em  ii 

-r 

—     "Zj 

oo 

<u    .„ 

*— < 

3  .23 

T3 

£      U 

V 

re    w 

X 


it  .3. 

-a  *"" 
u  c 

y  c 

-      <L> 
<n     tn 


M 


be 
C 


■=      3 

2  x: 


—V 


c 

0 

3 

C 

re 


H 


NORTH  GROVE  STREET  BUILDING  509 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

NORTH  GROVE  STREET  BUILDING.      WARREN    MUSEUM. 
NEW  MEN.      STATUTES. 

1847  T0  J854- 

The  year  1846-47  is  a  landmark  in  the  history  of  the  Har- 
vard Medical  School.  A  new  generation  was  beginning  to 
assume  control  of  affairs,  and  the  last  of  that  group  of  men 
who  had  carried  the  school  forward  since  18 10  was  to'  retire. 
At  the  end  of  1845,  with  an  audience  of  157  students,  the 
Faculty  found  sufficient  reason  thus  to  congratulate  them- 
selves : 

"  The  Faculty  are  willing  to  consider  the  increased  number  of  pupils  in 
this  Institution,  which  has  doubled  within  the  last  five  years,  as  an  evi- 
dence that  the  advantages  which  they  offer  to  the  candidates  for  medical 
degrees  are  becoming  appreciated  by  the  community,  and  it  gives  them 
pleasure  to  add  that  they  believe  a  greater  number  of  teachers  for  the 
different  medical  schools  in  the  United  States  in  proportion,  have  been 
taken  from  their  graduates  than  from  any  other  medical  Institution  in 
this  country.  They  think  that  they  have  a  right  to  regard  this  as  some 
evidence  of  the  success  of  their  endeavor  to  give  a  thorough  course  of 
medical  instruction." 

Early  in  1846  (February  28)  a  communication  to  the  Cor- 
poration had  been  received  from  the  Medical  Faculty  urging 
the  erection  of  a  new  building,  and  informing  the  Corporation 
that  George  Parkman  had  very  generously  given  a  lot  of  land 
on  North  Grove  Street  in  Boston  for  the  purpose.  The  Cor- 
poration voted  April  11,  1846,  to  sell  the  Mason  Street  estate 
and  use  the  funds  for  the  erection  of  a  new  building  for  the 


510  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Medical  School  on  the  land  presented  by  Parkman.     It  was 
further  voted :  * 

"  That  in  case  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  the  estate  in  Mason  Street 
shall  not  be  sufficient  to  complete  the  new  building  on  Grove  Street 
according  to  the  plans  adopted,  the  treasurer  be,  and  he  is,  hereby  author- 
ized to  spend  a  further  sum  not  exceeding  five  thousand  dollars  for  the 
purpose,  provided  that  the  Professors  of  the  Medical  School  shall  by  a 
suitable  instrument  in  writing  signed  by  them  pledge  to  the  College  such 
portion  of  the  fees  received  by  them  from  the  Medical  Students  as  shall 
be  sufficient  to  pay  the  interest  on  said  sum  advanced  by  the  Treasurer 
beyond  the  proceeds  of  the  Mason  Street  estate,  at  the  rate  of  6  per  centum 
per  annum  payable  semi-annually  until  the  said  sum  shall  be  reimbursed 
to  the  College  Treasury. 

"  Voted  That  the  Treasurer  be  instructed  to  make  it  one  of  the  condi- 
tions of  the  sale  of  the  Mason  Street  estate  that  the  land  shall  not  be  used 
at  any  time  hereafter  for  the  purposes  of  a  Medical  School  or  College,  or 
for  lecturing  or  giving  instruction  in  any  manner  or  form  whatsoever  on 
any  branch  of  Medicine,  Anatomy  or  Surgical  science  or  Art." 

This  restriction  was  altered  July  18,   1846,  so  as  to  apply 
only  to  the  building,  and  not  to  the  land. 

The  Treasurer's  report  of  April  3,  1847,  saYs  : 

"  Whereas  the  erection  of  the  new  Medical  College  has  from  various 
causes,  cost  more  than  was  originally  contemplated,  and  sundry  further 
expenditures  are  yet  necessary  for  its  completion  beyond  the  amount  which 
has  been  raised  from  the  sale  of  the  estate  on  Mason  Street,  from  sub- 
scription and  the  vote  of  the  Corporation  passed  April  11,  1846, 

"  Voted,  That  the  Treasurer  be,  and  he  is  hereby,  authorized  to  spend 
such  further  sum  as  may  be  necessary  to  complete  the  Medical  School,  not 
exceeding  nine  thousand  dollars,  provided  the  Professors  in  the  Faculty 
of  that  department  of  the  University  shall  obligate  themselves  to  pay  so 
long  as  they  continue  in  office  the  interest  on  the  entire  sum  advanced  by 
the  President  and  Fellows,  and  also  a  portion  of  the  Principal  sum  in  each 
year,  viz,  one  per  centum  per  annum  for  ten  years,  and  five  per  centum 
afterwards  till  the  entire  amount  advanced  shall  be  returned,  the  first 
payment  of  principal  and  interest  to  be  made  on  the  first  day  of  April, 
1848 ;  also 

"Voted,  That  the  Trustees  be  authorized  to  include  in  the  purpose  for 
which  the  above  sum  may  be  advanced  the  charge  for  incidental  expenses 

*  See  Appendix,  Chapter  XXII. 


NORTH  GROVE  STREET  BUILDING  511 

incurred   by    the    Professors    in    consequence    of   the    enlargement    of    the 
school  not  exceeding  six  hundred  dollars." 

The  Mason  Street  estate  is  now  used  by  the  city  for  Fire 
Department  purposes. 

John  C.  Warren  resigned  on  February  15th,  1847,  and  at 
a  meeting  of  the  Corporation  February  27th,  1847,  ^  was 
voted : 

"  That  in  accepting  the  resignation  of  Dr.  J.  C.  Warren  as  Hersey  Pro- 
fessor of  Anatomy  and  Surgery  the  Board  is  deeply  sensible  of  the  im- 
portant service  rendered  to  the  University  by  Dr.  Warren ;  and  hold  in 
grateful  recollection  the  successful  exertions  made  by  him  for  a  period 
of  more  than  forty  years,  and  in  continuance  of  those  of  his  honored 
Father,  to  raise  the  character  and  promote  the  interests  of  the  Medical 
School ; 

"  Voted,  That  Dr.  John  C.  Warren  be  chosen  Emeritus  Professor  of 
Anatomy  and  Surgery  in  the  University  in  consideration  of  his  faithful 
and  valuable  services  as  Hersey  Professor  of  Anatomy  and  Surgery." 

Certain  changes  of  importance  were  now  brought  about.  At 
the  April  3rd,  1847,  meeting  of  the  President  and  Fellows  it 
was  unanimously 

"  Voted.  1st.  That  the  Professorship  held  by  Dr.  Hay  ward  and  now 
called  the  '  Professorship  of  the  Institutes  of  Surgery  and  Clinical  Sur- 
gery,' be  called  hereafter  the  '  Professorship  of  Surgery.' 

"  2nd.  That  a  new  Professor  be  chosen  to  be  called  the  '  Parkman 
Professor  of  Anatomy  and  Physiology '  to  lecture  at  the  Medical  College. 

"  3rd.  That  a  new  Professor  be  chosen  to  be  called  the  '  Professor  of 
Pathological  Anatomy'  to  lecture  at  the  Medical  College  and  to  have 
charge  of  the  Museum. 

"  4th.  That  a  new  Professor  be  chosen  to  be  called  the  '  Hersey  Pro- 
fessor of  Anatomy '  to  lecture  at  Cambridge,  the  said  Professor  not  to  be 
a  member  of  the  Faculty  of  the  Medical  School  in  Boston. 

"  5th.     That   the  compensation  of  the  '  Parkman   Professor  of  Anatomy 
and  Physiology  '  shall  be  exclusively  derived  from  fees  paid  by  the  Med 
ical  Students. 

"6th.  That  the  compensation  of  the  '  Frofessor  of  Paralogical  Anat- 
omy and  Curator'  be  exclusively  derived  from  fees  paid  by  the  Medical 
Students. 

"  7th.     That  the  '  Hersey  Professor  of  Anatomy  '  be  paid  the  salary  of 


512  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

the  Hersey  foundation  hitherto  received  by  the  Hersey  Professor  of  Anat- 
omy and  Surgery. 

"  8th.  That  the  Professors  who  may  be  elected  as  members  of  the 
Medical  Faculty  enter  into  the  same  engagements  as  those  now  in  office 
relative  to  the  payment,  of  the  interests  and  reembursement  of  the  Principal 
of  the  sums  advanced  by  the  Corporation  towards  the  new  medical  college." 

The  Board  then  proceeded  to  fill  the  newly  created  offices, 
when  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  was  elected  Parkman  Professor 
of  Anatomy  and  Physiology.  John  Barnard  Swett  Jackson 
was  elected  Professor  of  Pathological  Anatomy,  and  Curator. 
Jeffries  Wyman  was  elected  Hersey  Professor  of  Anatomy. 

In  September,  1847,  Charming  resigned  the  Deanship,  after 
twenty-two  years  of  service,  and  the  Medical  Faculty  organ- 
ized October  2,  with  Holmes  as  Dean.  One  of  the  last  acts 
of  Channing  as  Dean  was  to  submit  to  the  President  and  Fel- 
lows of  Harvard  College  the  question  of  admitting  women 
to  the  courses,  and  to  the  examination  for  the  degree  in  Med- 
icine at  the  Medical  School.  A  special  meeting  was  called 
August  14,  1847,  I0r  tne  consideration  of  the  question.  It 
was  voted :  "That  the  Corporation  do  not  deem  it  advisable 
to  alter  the  existing  regulations  of  the  Medical  School  which 
imply  that  the  students  are  exclusively  of  the  male  sex."  This 
same  question  has  come  up  many  times  since,  and  the  decision 
of  the  Medical  Faculty  has  always  been  in  accordance  with 
this  first  vote  upon  the  question  by  the  Corporation. 

Two  changes  noted  about  this  time  were  the  discontinuance 
(July,  1846)  of  the  public  examination  of  candidates  for  the 
medical  degree;  and  the  arrangement  of  the  courses  so  as  to 
bring  all  lectures  into  the  morning  hours,  rather  than  to  have 
them  distributed  through  the  day  (November  27,  1847).  The 
fees  at  the  Medical  School  at  that  time  were :  For  all  the 
courses  $75 ;  for  matriculation  $3 ;  for  Dissecting  Ticket  $5 ; 
for  graduation  $20.* 

*  In  the  Treasurer's  Report  of  1847  the  Medical  School  appears  for  the 
first  time  as  a  part  of  the  University.     The  items  read  as  follows : 


NORTH  GROVE  STREET  BUILDING  513 

Consider  the  title  "  Massachusetts  Medical  College  "  which 
calls  for  some  comment.  It  will  not  be  amiss  to  note  at  the 
same  time  the  question  of  the  title  of  Harvard  College  itself, 
for  both  questions  have  been  subjects  of  discussion. 

In  1636  the  General  Court  of  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts 
Bay  agreed  to  give  four  hundred  pounds  towards  a  School  or 
College.  In  March,  1638-9,  it  was  ordered  that  "  The  College 
agreed  upon  formerly,  to  be  built  at  Cambridge,  shall  be  called 
Harvard  College."  In  the  Act  of  1642  establishing  the  over- 
seers of  Harvard  College  the  institution  is  repeatedly  referred 
to  as  Harvard  College.  The  Book  of  the  General  Laws 
and  Liberties,  of  1649  speaks  of  "  a  Schoole  and  a  Seminary 
of  knowledge  and  virtue." 

In  the  same  book  (p.  191)  one  reads  of  'the  master  of 
grammar  schools  instructing  youths  so  as  to  fit  them  for  the 
University."  This  is  probably  the  first  use  of  the  term  univer- 
sity as  applied  to  Harvard.  The  name  "  Harvard  College  "  is 
invariably  used  when  it  occurs  in  Colonial  legislation.  In  the 
provincial  resolve  of  1697  Harvard  is  called  an  "  Academy," 
and  in  the  Acts  of  the  same  body  in  1707  it  is  designated, 
"  That  House."  This  last  term  we  find  still  retained  at  some 
of  the  English  colleges. 

Dr. 

For  paid  on   Contract  and   for  building  (o   August   31,   1846.  ..  .$11,650.00 
For  paid  on  Contract  and  for  building  to  August  31,   1847.  ..  .$28,993.26 

$40,643.26 
Cr. 

By  Subscription  received  in  1846 $  1,200.00 

Part  of  amount  for  sale  of  Mason  St.  Estate $  5,000.00 

Subscription    received    in    1847 $  3,400.00 

Balance  on  sale  of  Mason  St.  Estate 17,963.33 

$27,563.33 
Balance  August  31,  1847,  Guaranteed  by  Professors.  .$13,079.93 

$40,643.26 


514  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

The  right  of  Harvard  College  to  use  the  name  "  The  Uni- 
versity at  Cambridge  "  was  legally  established  by  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  Commonwealth  in  1780.  The  5th  chapter  of  this 
Constitution  in  which  the  designation  is  used  was  prepared  by 
the  Corporation  of  the  College  and  submitted  to  a  committee 
of  the  Convention.  In  the  Statutes  of  June  25th,  1789,  the 
term  University  is  used  exclusively.  We  find,  however,  some 
of  the  earlier  presidents  making  use  of  the  term  "  University  " 
as  well  as  claiming  the  prerogatives  of  a  University  for  Har- 
vard. President  Increase  Mather  in  his  address  of  1692  says: 
"  The  General  Court  of  Massachusetts,  the  Governor's  Coun- 
cil, the  people  of  New  England,  have  named  and  established 
Harvard  College  as  a  University,  with  the  authority  to  confer 
degrees,  in  the  manner  of  the  English  Universities."  In  the 
"  Magnalia  "  of  Cotton  Mather  (1702)  the  title  of  the  fourth 
book  is  "  An  Account  of  the  University  of  New  England."  On 
the  diplomas  of  1752,  1764,  1775  and  1779  the  heading  is  "Sen- 
atus  Academiae  Cantabrigiensis  in  Novanglia."  On  the  1764 
diploma  the  words  u  Antedictae  Academiae  Hanmrdianac' 
occur  casually;  and  in  the  diploma  of  1779  the  Corporation 
are  mentioned  as  "  Prcteses  et  Socii  Colic gii  Harvard  ianae." 
The  1752  and  the  1775  diplomas  do  not  contain  the  words 
Collegium  Harzrardianuni  nor  Academia.  Harzmrdiana.  Ben- 
jamin Franklin's  diploma  for  the  degree  A.  M.  in  1753  is  in 
the  name  of  "  Academia  Cantabrigiensis  in  Novanglia,"  with- 
out any  other  designation. 

After  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  1780,  the  heading 
on  the  diploma  was  "  Senatus  Universitatus  Harvardianac 
Cantabrigiensis  in  Republican  Massacluisettensi,"  without  any 
reference  to  Collegium  Harvardiamum.  The  University  at 
this  time  consisted  of  but  one  school,  the  Academic  or  "  School 
of  Arts."  The  term  University  as  acquired  from  this  consti- 
tution  does  not  seem  to  have  established   a    legal   standing; 


NORTH  GROVE  STREET  BUILDING  515 

hence  it  is  not  used  in  documents  requiring  the  corporate  name 
for  their  validity. 

The  Medical  School  founded  two  years  after  that  1780  date 
is  invariably  mentioned  as  the  Medical  Institution  of  Harvard 
College,  although  references  are  found,  especially  in  the  news- 
papers of  the  period,  to  the  Medical  School  of  Harvard  Col- 
lege or  of  Harvard  University,  and  to  the  Boston  Medical 
School. 

Engraved  blanks  for  honorary  degrees  during  President 
Kirkland's  administration  read  "  Senatus  Umversitatus  Can- 
tabrigicusis ;"  and  the  Corporation  are  called  "  Praescs  ct  Socii 
Univcrsit cites  Cantabrigiensis."  From  Kirkland's  time  the  dif- 
ferent presidents  in  their  reports  used  different  terms.  Kirkland 
and  Quincy  say  "  Harvard  University."  Sparks,  Felton,  Walk- 
er, and  Hill  say  "  Harvard  College."  The  title  pages  of  the 
catalogue  also  show  the  same  variation.  Sparks  alone  adheres 
constantly  to  the  term  "  College  " ;  and  the  others  have  "  Har- 
vard University,"  and  "  The  University  at  (or  in)  Cam- 
bridge." 

An  official  pamphlet  published  in  18 12  is  called  "  The  Con- 
stitution of  the  University  at  Cambridge,"  while  the  various 
additions  to  the  laws  down  to  1820  inclusive  are  called  the 
"  Laws  of  Harvard  College."  Since  1825  they  are  called 
"  The  Statutes  and  Laws  of  the  University  in  Cambridge. 
Massachusetts." 

In  the  medical  catalogues  1818  and  1819  the  Medical  School 
is  styled  The  Massachusetts  Medical  College  of  Harvard  Uni- 
versity. This  title  prevailed  until  the  catalogue  of  1858-59, 
which  has  on  the  title  page  "  Harvard  University,  Medical 
Department,  Catalogue  of  Students  attending  the  Winter  Ses- 
sions." From  1867  it  reads  *  *  *  "  Annual  Catalogue  of 
the  Medical  School  (Boston)  of  Harvard  University."  This 
form  was  continued  until  1896  when  the  present  form  was 
adopted:     "Harvard  University,  The  Medical   School." 


510  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

As  stated  on  another  page,  the  name  Massachusetts  Medical 
College  originated  from  the  fact  of  the  State  Legislature  grant- 
ing money  towards  the  erection  of  the  Mason  Street  building. 
We  find  the  name  retained  after  the  School  moved  into  its 
North  Grove  Street  building;  and  that  was  the  legal  title  used 
during  the  Webster  trial.  In  1858  they  considered  seriously 
whether  the  School  should  not  be  named  in  honor  of  James 
Jackson,  but  the  Corporation  decided  that  his  memory  would 
be  as  appropriately  observed  by  the  establishment  of  a  Pro- 
fessorship in  Clinical  Medicine.*  That  year  (1858)  corre- 
sponds with  the  introduction  of  "  Medical  Department  of  Har- 
vard University  "  in  designating  the  School.  It  soon  became 
such  officially  and  has  so  remained. 

The  •  Faculty  consisted  of  Channing,  Bigelow,  Hayward, 
Webster,  Ware,  J.  B.  S.  Jackson  and  Holmes ;  Holmes  was 
Dean. 

The  Warren  Anatomical  Museum  was  established  by  the 
Corporation  December  27th,  1847,  as  follows : 

'  The  Corporation  receive  with  great  sensibility  this  new  and  distin- 
guished proof  of  the  enlightened  interest  taken  by  Dr.  Warren  in  the  pros- 
perity of  the  Medical  College.  They  accept  with  gratitude  his  munificent 
donations,  on  the  conditions  proposed  in  his  letter  to  the  President,  of 
the  1 6th  Inst.,  and  would  also  recommend  to  the  Overseers  to  give  effeel 
to  the  same  in  appointing  the  Committee  of  Examination. 

"Voted  that  in  commemoration  of  the  liberality  evinced  by  Dr.  Warren 
in  this  donation  and  of  the  zealous,  long-continued  and  faithful  services 
of  himself  and  his  father  for  the  promotion  of  medical  education,  the 
collection  of  Anatomical  preparations  now  presented  by  Dr.  Warren  to 
the  President  and  Fellows  be  known  and  designated  as  the  '  Warren  Ana- 
tomical Museum,'  and  that  this  name  be  placed  in  gilt  letters  over  the 
door  of  entrance  to  the  museum."  f 

Early  in  1848  Hayward  asked  to  be  relieved,  on  account 
of  ill  health,  from  his  duties  as  Lecturer  on  Clinical  Surgery 
at  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital.  At  this  time  the  Med- 
ical Faculty  asked  the  Corporation  of  Harvard  to  appoint  or 

*  See  Appendix,    Chapter  XXII. 
f  See  Appendix,   Chapter   XXI. 


NORTH  GROVE  STREET  BUILDING  517 

authorize  the  surgeons  at  the  Hospital  to  give  clinical  lectures 
to  the  medical  class.  Each  surgeon  in  rotation,  beginning 
with  the  senior,  was  to  be  appointed  for  the  term  of  one  year 
only.  The  result  of  this  request  was  an  action  by  the  Cor- 
poration (October  28,  ^848)  defining  the  duties  of  the  Her- 
sey  Professors.     Thus : 

"  First,  that  the  Hersey  Professor  of »Anatomy  be  required  to  give  all 
the  instruction  on  medical  subjects  which  has  heretofore  been  given  by 
both  the  Hersey  Professors  to  undergraduates. 

"  Second,  that  the  Hersey  Professor  of  Theory  and  Practice  of  Physic 
be  discharged  from  the  duty  of  delivering  lectures  to  undergraduates 
at  Cambridge. 

"  Third,  that  the  salary  of  the  Hersey  Professor  of  Theory  and  Practice 
of  Physic  be  at  the  rate  of  three  hundred  and  thirty-three  and  33/100 
dollars  per  annum." 

Hayward  resigned,  March  31,  1849,  his  Professorship  of 
Surgery,  and  en  April  28,  1849,  Henry  J.  Bigelow  was  elected 
to  the  place.  That  action  of  the  Corporation,  just  mentioned, 
opened  the  question  of  the  financial  relationship  between  the 
University  and  the  Medical  School.    Let  me  elucidate : 

The  Corporation  ordered*  a  new  medical  diploma  to  be  writ- 
ten and  engraved.  The  bill  went  to  the  Medical  Faculty.  To 
this  the  Faculty  objected,  and  asked  "that  in  future  no  expense 
may  be  assessed  upon  them  in  regard  to  the  necessity  of  which 
they  have  not  been  first  consulted".  The  Corporation,  placed 
in  a  weak  position,  replied  at  some  length,  setting  forth  the 
right  it  had  over  the  finances  of  the  several  departments  of 
the  College,  and  asserting  that  the  Faculty  of  a  School  or  a 
Department  had  only  such  powers  as  the  Corporation  choose 
to  bestow, — the  Corporation  being  subject  only  to  the  Over- 
seers.    Thus  they  dodged  the  contention  of  the  Faculty. 

The  Erving  Professor  was  now  to  be  freed  from  giving 
instruction  t<>  undergraduates,  and  was  to  receive  one  thou- 
sand dollars  for  his  other  services.     Upon  the  election    (De- 

*  December  18th,  1848,  Corporation  meeting. 


518  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

cember  30,  1850)  of  Josiah  Parsons  Cook  as  Erving  Professor 
of  Chemistry  and  Mineralogy,  it  was  stipulated  "That  he  shall 
reside  in  Cambridge  and  be  a  member  of  the  College  Faculty, 
and  that  he  shall  give  the  Lectures  in  the  Medical  College  at 
Boston  and  all  the  instruction  required  in  Chemistry,  Miner- 
alogy and  Geology  to  the  undergraduates,  and  perform  such 
other  duties  as  may  from  time  to  time  be  assigned  to  him  by 
the  Corporation  not  inconsistent  with  the  duties  of  the  office". 
Cook's  salary  was  fixed  at  twelve  hundred  dollars  and  he  paid 
the  expenses  of  his  lectures  except  for  fuel  in  Cambridge. 
That  dispute  over  the  disposition  of  the  funds,  which  the  Med- 
ical Faculty  believed  rightly  belonged  to  the  Medical  School, 
was  finally  answered  by  the  Corporation  in  the  following  com- 
prehensive report : 

"July  31.  1858. 

'  The  undersigned,  a  Committee  to  whom  was  referred  a  communication 
from  Dr.  H.  J.  Bigelow,  and  a  statement  of  Dr.  James  Jackson  relating 
to  the  appropriating  of  funds  for  the  support  of  Professors  of  Physic  and 
Anatomy,  Physic  and  Surgery,  and  of  Chemistry,  have  considered  the 
matter  submitted  to  them  and  report : 

'  That  the  first  donation  was  that  of  Dr.  Ezekiel  Hersey  of  Hingham 
in  1772  of  £1,000,  the  interest  to  be  appropriated  towards  the  support 
of  a  Professor  of  Anatomy  &  Physic.  The  widow  of  Dr.  Hersey,  Mrs. 
Sarah  Derby,  in  1790,  bequeathed  the  sum  of  $3,353.59  to  the  support  of 
the  same  Professor. 

;  The  donation  of  Dr.  Hersey  is  the  only  one  which  preceded  the 
establishment  of  the   Medical   School   in    1782. 

"The  legacy  of  Dr.  Abner  Hersey  of  Barnstable  in  1794  &  1795  was  of 
£500  '  for  the  encouragement  &  support  of  a  Professor  of  Physic  & 
Surgery.' 

"  In  1792  the  legacy  of  John  Cuming  of  Concord  gave  £400,  the  income 
of  which  was  for  "  the  Professor  of  Physic." 

"  In  1812  Esther  Spraguc  gave  $2,000  '  toward  the  support  of  the 
Professor  of  the  Theory  &  Practice  of  Physic' 

"  In  1794  Major  William  Erving  gave  $1,000  '  for  the  sole  use  &  purpose 
of  enlarging  the  salary  of  the  Professor  upon  Chemistry.' 

"When  the  Medical  School  was  established  in  1782.  in  addition  to  the 
Professorship  of  Anatomy  &  Surgery,  &  the  Theory  &  Practice  of  Physic, 
a  Professorship  was  founded  of  Chemistry  &  Materia  Medica. 

"  It   appears  that  before  the   establishment  of  the  Medical    School,   the 


NORTH  GROVE  STREET  BUILDING  519 

only  instruction  given  in  the  University,  having  any  relation  to  Medical 
Science  was  given  to  undergraduates.  Upon  the  establishment  of  that 
School  provision  was  made  for  the  instruction  of  undergraduates  of  the 
two  upper  classes,  as  well  as  of  graduates  &  others,  in  the  various  branches 
of  medical  science;  and  the  fees  charged  to  graduates  &  undergraduates 
were  to  be  only  one-half  as  large  as  those  charged  to  other  persons. 

""'  When  the  Medical  School  was  removed  to  Boston,  by  the  desire  and 
at  the  request  of  the  Medical  professors,  great  care  was  taken  that  the 
advantages  which  the  undergraduates  had  enjoyed  of  attending  medical 
lectures,  and  receiving  instruction  in  Anatomy,  Physic  &  Chemsitry,  should 
not  be  impaired,  and  express  provision  was  made  that  courses  of  lectures 
should  still  be  delivered  to  them  by  the  medical  professors.  In  the  depart- 
ment of  chemistry  especially  the  instruction  given  in  the  academical  course 
at  Cambridge  was  made  the  principal,  and  the  instruction  in  the  medical 
school  the  subordinate  duty  of  the  Professor. 

"  The  legacy  of  Dr.  Ezekiel  Hersey,  by  the  accumulation  of  interest  has 
increased  from  $3,333-33.  its  original  amount,  to  $7,952,  and  the  whole 
amount  of  the  two  Hersey  donations  with  those  of  Sarah  Derby,  Esther 
Sprague  and  John  Cuming,  is  now  $16,677.13,  producing  an  annual  income 
of  $827.61 ;  of  this  income  $333-33  have  been  paid  to  the  Hersey  Professor 
of  the  Theory  &  Practice  of  Physic  who  formerly  lectured  to  the  under- 
graduates as  well  as  in  the  Medical  School  but  for  the  last  few  years 
only  in  the  Medical  School ;  and  the  remainder  $494.28  toward  the 
salary  of  the  Hersey  Professor  of  Anatomy,  whose  lectures  are  delivered 
at  Cambridge  to  the  undergraduates,  and  to  the  members  of  the  Scientific 
School,  and  to  such  members  of  the  Medical  School  as  choose  to  attend 
them. 

'  The  income  of  the  Erving  donation  amounting  only  to  the  sum  of 
$166.66  is  paid  to  the  Erving  Professor  of  Chemistry  &  Mineralogy,  whose 
instructions  are  given  at  Cambridge  exclusively,  &  chiefly  to  the  under- 
graduates, and  to  the  members  of  the  Scientific  School,  though  they  are 
open  to  students  in  the  other  departments  of  the  University. 

'  The  claim  is  made  that  the  income  of  these  funds  should  be  appropri- 
ated exclusively  to  the  use  of  the  Medical  School.  The  disposition  which 
is  now  made  of  them  has  been  made  by  the  Corporation  in  pursuance 
of  arrangements  which  have  had  at  every  stage  the  approbation  of  the 
Medical  Faculty  of  the  University,  &  the  consent  of  the  incumbants  of  the 
Professorships  especially  concerned  in  them  &  indeed  have  generally  been 
made   at    their    suggestion. 

"  We  do  not  therefore  believe  that  there  is  any  reason  which  makes  a 
change  of  the  existing  arrangements  necessary  or  proper  at  the  present 
time. 

"  In  the  first  place  we  cannot  see  that  there  is  any  misapplication  of 
trust  funds,  or  disregard  of  the  will  of  the  donors  of  those  funds. 


520  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

"The  legacy  of  Maj.  Erving  has  nothing  connected  with  it  to  indicate 
an  intention  that  it  should  not  be  applied  to  instruction  in  the  science 
of  chemistry  at  such  a  stage  in  the  cause  of  education  at  the  University 
as  might  seem  expedient  to  the  Corporation.  Instruction  in  that  science 
is  now  regarded  as  a  necessary  and  important  part  of  academical  educa- 
tion, &  could  not  be  properly  dispensed  with  in  the  Academic  course.  At 
the  time  the  donation  was  made,  the  principle  instruction  given  by  the 
Professor  was  given  to  undergraduates :  and  we  think  it  is  important 
to  the  best  interests  of  the  Medical  School,  as  to  the  general  welfare  of 
the  University  (hat  it  should  be  continued. 

"  The  other  funds  were  undoubtedly  given  to  promote  medical  education, 
as  a  matter  of  distinctive  professional  training.  But  the  amount  of  the 
funds  is  wholly  inadequate  to  the  support  even  of  a  single  Professor. 
They  are  appropriated  towards  the  support  of  two  Professors,  not  merely 
in  teaching  subjects  which  are  literally  within  the  terms  of  the  bequest, 
but  one  of  them  exclusively  devoted  to  the  medical  school,  and  the  other 
accessible  to  medical  students,  as  well  as  giving  instruction  and  developing 
tasts  in  the  University,  which  are  clearly  of  great  practical  benefit  to  that 
special  department,  while  they  extend  the  range  of  academic  culture. 

"  We  do  not  suppose  that  in  consenting  to  the  removal  of  the  Medical 
School  to  Boston  (a  measure  which  was  adopted  partly  to  suit  the  personal 
convenience  of  the  Medical  Professors,  but  chiefly  to  increase  the  useful- 
ness of  the  School  by  affording  greater  facilities  for  clinical  instruction 
and  dissection)  it  was  ever  intended  to  separate  from  Cambridge  every- 
thing pertaining  to  medical  education.  The  whole  proceedings  of  the 
Corporation  and  of  the  Medical  Faculty  at  the  time  of  the  removal  and 
ever  since  show  the  contrary. 

"  Special  and  thorough  instruction  in  comparative  anatomy  and  physi- 
ology and  in  chemistry  is  now  given  by  the  resident  Professors  at  Cam- 
bridge. Students  in  the  Medical  School  have  the  benefit  of  this  instruction, 
if  they  choose  to  avail  themselves  of  it;  students  in  the  Scientific  School 
make  it  a  special  department  of  study,  as  is  not  uncommonly  the  case 
in  medical  institutions,  where  particular  branches  of  study  are  pursued 
by  students  who  are  not  candidates  for  a  medical  degree.  The  attention 
given  to  these  sciences  by  undergraduates,  while  it  is  proper  as  a  part 
of  a  large  and  liberal  education,  has  a  strong  tendency  to  turn  their  minds 
toward  the  medical  profession  and  gives  them  a  desirable  preparation  for 
the  further  prosecution  of  medical  studies. 

"  The  existing  arrangements  are  such  as  cannot  easily  or  conveniently 
be  disturbed,  and  we  are  inclined  to  the  opinion  that  it  would  not  be 
wise  to  change  them,  if  no  obstacles  were  in  the  way. 

"  (Signed)  James    Walker  I       Committee." 

E.  R.  Hoar  ) 


NORTH  GROVE  STREET  BUILDING  521 

It  was  further  voted  by  the  Corporation,  July  31,  1858: 

'  That  the  Treasurer  be  authorized  to  receive  payment  of  the  debt  due 
from  the  Medical  School  to  the  College,  and  thereupon  to  surrender  the 
securities  held  by  him  therefore. 

"2nd.  That  the  Treasurer  be  authorized  to  receive  such  sum  of  money 
as  has  been  subscribed  for  the  benefit  of  the  Medical  School,  and  remains 
in  the  charge  of  the  Medical  Faculty,  after  the  payment  of  the  debt  to  the 
College  above  named,  and  to  invest  the  same  with  the  funds  of  the  College 
upon  the  terms  following,  namely : — That  interest  upon  the  same  at  the  rate 
of  5%  per  annum  be  allowed  and  paid  for  the  exclusive  benefit  of  the 
Medical  School  in  such  manner  as  the  Medical  Faculty  shall  from  time  to 
time  vote  and  determine,  and  that  the  principal  shall  be  paid  in  like  man- 
ner at  any  time  upon  six  months'  notice." 

E.  N.  Horsford  was  appointed  (Dec.  29,  1849)  Lecturer  on 
Chemistry  at  the  Medical  School  in  the  absence  of  the  Erving 
Professor  during  that  term.  Webster  resigned  July  10,  1850, 
and  Josiah  Parsons  Cooke  was  chosen  (Dec.  30,  1850)  Erving 
Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Mineralogy.  The  next  changes 
in  the  Faculty  were  the  election  (Aug.  27,  1853)  of  Morrill 
Wyman  as  Adjunct  Professor  to  Ware;  the  resignation  of 
Channing,  and  the  election  in  his  place,  September  9,  1854. 
of  David  Humphreys  Storer  as  Professor  of  Obstetrics  and 
Medical  Jurisprudence;  and  the  resignation,  December  30, 
1854,  of  Jacob  Bigelow  as  Professor  of  Materia  Medica  in 
the  University  and  Lecturer  in  Clinical  Medicine,  "which  I 
hold  by  a  separate  vote  of  the  Corporation".  At  this  same 
meeting  (December  30,  1854)  Edward  Hammond  Clarke  was 
elected  Professor  of  Materia  Medica,  and  it  was  voted  that 
a  Professorship  of  Clinical  Medicine  be  established  in  place 
of  the  present  Lectureship.*  George  Cheyne  Shattuck  was 
thereupon  elected  Professor  of  Clinical  Medicine. 

O.  W.  Holmes  resigned  March  26,  1853,  his  Deanship  of 
the  Medical  School,  and  J.  B.  S.  Jackson  was  elected  to  that 

*  The  Professorship  of  Clinical  Medicine,  created  for  James  Jackson 
in  1810,  had  never  been  abolished,  but  was  allowed  to  become  a  Lectureship 
when  Jackson  was  elected  Mersey  Professor  in  1812. 


522  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

office.  The  commotion  occasioned  at  this  period  (1850)  by 
the  admission  of  colored  students  to  the  school,  as  well  as 
by  a  vote  of  the  Corporation  "that  this  Board,  if  the  Medical 
Faculty  deem  it  expedient,  perceive  no  objection  arising  from 
the  Statutes  of  the  Medical  School  to  admitting  female  stu- 
dents to  their  lectures,  expressing  hereby  no  opinion  as  to 
the  claim  of  such  students  to  a  medical  degree"  was  settled 
by  one  Harriot  K.  Hunt's  withdrawing  her  request  for  the  ad- 
mission of  women  to  Medical  Lectures.  The  faculty,  how- 
ever, refused  their  consent  to  a  protest  of  the  students  against 
colored  men.* 

The  title  "Professorship  of  Pathological  Anatomy"  was 
changed  (October  15,  1853)  to  "The  Shattuck  Professorship 
of  Morbid  Anatomy".  This  was  in  consequence  of  the  fol- 
lowing bequest : 

"  Boston,  Aug.   30,   1853. 
"Hon.  Samuel  A.  Eliot, 

"  Treasurer  Harvard  University  : 

"  My  dear  Sir :  Through  you  I  beg  leave  to  offer  to  the  Trustees  for 
their  acceptance  seven  shares  of  the  Stark  Mills  at  Manchester,  N.  H., 
and  seven  shares  in  the  Atlantic  Cotton  Mills  at  Lawrence,  Mass.,  as  a 
contribution  towards  sustaining  the  Chair  of  Pathological  Anatomy  in 
the  Massachusetts  Medical  College,  an  appendage  of  Harvard  University, 
nevertheless  on  the  following  conditions.  That  the  income  only  on  said 
shares  be  paid  to  the  encumbant  as  received,  and  in  case  of  vacancy  the 
income  during  the  vacancy  be  added  to  the  principal  to  increase  the  salary 
of  the  Professor,  also  that  the  Trustees  have  the  approbation  of  the  con- 
tributor to  change  the  investment  provided  the  financial  committee  deem 
a  change  expedient  or  for  a  more  equable  salary  to  the  incumbent. 

"  That  Harvard  may  ever  come  up  to  the  wants  of  the  people  by  furnish- 
ing the  means  for  their  instruction  is  the  earnest  desire  of  her  humble 
well-wisher. 

"  (Signed)  Geo.  C.  Shattuck." 

"  Voted.  That  the  Corporation  receive  with  grateful  respect  this  dona- 
tion from  a  valued  member  of  a  profession  of  such  importance  in  the 
community,    and    responding    cordially    to    the    wishes    of    the    giver    will 

*  The  first  two  colored  medical  students  were  admitted  in  1850.  These 
two  were  destined  for  missionary  work  in  Liberia. 


A.  B.  1831;   A.  M.:   M.  I).  1835. 

Professor  Clinical  Medicine  1855-1859 

llersey  Professor  Theory  and  Practice  1859-1874. 

Dean  of  Medical  School  1864-1869. 


NORTH  GROVE  STREET  BUILDING  523 

carefully  endeavor  to  conform  to  his  views  in  maintaining  the  Professor- 
ship. 

"  They  look  with  peculiar  satisfaction  at  this  donation  from  one  who 
has  attained  so  prominent  a  position  in  his  profession  and  who  is  an 
honored  alumnus  of  another  college." 

Here  is  the  interesting-  manner  of  deciding  upon  medical 
degrees,  as  late  as  1854.  The  Professors  assembled  in  the 
Museum,  and  seven  candidates  were  introduced,  one  for  each 
Professor.  After  an  examination  of  five  minutes,  at  a  given 
signal,  every  candidate  moved  on  to  the  next  Professor,  and 
so  on  until  each  applicant  had  been  examined  in  every  depart- 
ment. A  five  minutes  examination  on  his  dissertation  fol- 
lowed. Then  a  ballot  was  taken,  three  negative  votes  rejected, 
— the  vote  of  rejection  being  subject  to  revision  on  the  mo- 
tion of  any  Professor.  A  rejected  candidate  could  not  be 
examined  until  the  next  semi-annual  examination. 

Early  in  1854  (Jan.  21)  the  Corporation  voted:  That  here- 
after no  person  shall  receive  the  diploma  of  Doctor  in  Medi- 
cine until  it  has  been  approved  by  the  Overseers  of  the  Col- 
lege, and  that  this  vote  be  communicated  to  the  Dean  of  the 
Medical  Faculty.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  devise  and 
report  a  suitable  method  of  conferring  Medical  Degrees  in 
due  form  upon  those  entitled  to  them  at  the  close  of  Medi- 
cal lectures  each  year.  At  the  next  meeting  (January  28,  1854) 
of  the  Medical  Faculty  it  was  recommended  that  "the  two 
examinations  now  held  be  dispensed  with,  and  that  an  annual 
examination  be  held  at  or  near  the  termination  of  the  course 
of  Lectures  to  which  all  candidates  shall  be  admitted  who 
have  studied  three  years,  or  who,  being  graduated  at  a  col- 
lege in  good  standing,  will  have  completed  three  years  from 
the  time  of  their  graduation  at  the  next  Commencement,  pro- 
vided they  bring  evidence  of  having  attended  while  under- 
graduates, satisfactory  courses  of  instruction  in  Anatomy  and 
Physiology,  and  in  Chemistry".     A  discussion  of  the  expedi- 


524  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

ency  of  abolishing  oral  examinations  and  substituting  printed 
questions  requiring  written  answers  was  referred  to  a  com- 
mittee instructed  to  revise  the  statutes  of  the  Medical  School. 
The  manner  of  granting  degrees  was  accordingly  adopted  to 
follow  this  plan  : — 

The  President  was  to  confer  the  Degrees  at  the  Medical 
College  in  Boston  in  the  presence  of  the  Corporation  and 
Board  of  Overseers,  and  the  Medical  Faculty.  The  Profes- 
sors were  to  hold  a  meeting  for  this  purpose  as  early  as  pos- 
sible after  the  Degrees  had  been  voted  by  the  Corporation  and 
Overseers,  at  which  meeting  one  of  the  Medical  Professors, 
selected  for  the  purpose,  was  to  deliver  an  address  to  the  can- 
didates.    These  exercises  were  to  be  public. 

This  programme  was  carried  out  in  March,  1855,  for  the 
first  time,  and  was  as  follows : 

"  1.     A  prayer — with  the  approbation  of  President  Walker. 

"  2.  Selection  from  Dissertations  by  the  Graduates,  time  limit  three- 
quarters  of  an  hour. 

"3.  Address  by  Professor  Cooke  (Prof.  Storer  having  declined),  time 
limit,  one-half  hour. 

"4.     Degrees  conferred  by  President  Walker.     (Thirty-three  graduates.) 

"  5.     Benediction,  with  I  he  approbation  of  the  President." 

New  statutes  were  adopted  in  1854.  Among  the  changes 
was  the  institution  of  a  single  examination  for  the  Degree,  in 
March  of  each  year.  These  statutes  were  revised  in  January, 
1856,  and  the  plan  of  holding  two  meetings  each  year  for 
the  purpose  of  examining  candidates  was  adopted,  while  three 
jears  of  study  under  a  regular  practitioner  of  medicine  were 
required.  Morbid  Anatomy  and  Clinical  Medicine  were 
added  to  the  requirements  for  a  degree.  Both  sets  of  Stat- 
utes follow  : 

— 1854— 
"Rules  and  Statutes  of  the  Mudical  School  in  Harvard  University. 

"Article  I.  The  Faculty  of  Medicine  of  this  University  shall  consist 
of  the  President,  and  of  the  Professors  and  Lecturers  authorized  to  give 
instruction   to  the  Medical    Students. 


NORTH  GROVE  STREET  BUILDING  525 

"  The  Faculty  shall  always  have  a  Dean  elected  hy  themselves  for  such 
periods  as  they  may  think  proper,  and  may  also  adopt  rules  for  their  own 
government,  provided  that  the  same  do  not  in  any  respect  contravene  the 
laws  of  the  University. 

"  Article  II.  Students  of  Medicine  designing  to  attend  the  Medical 
Lectures  or  any  of  them,  shall  he  matriculated  in  the  University  by  enter- 
ing their  names  with  the  Dean  of  the  Faculty  of  Medicine,  to  be  enrolled 
by  him,  and  by  signing  an  obligation  to  submit  to  the  laws  of  the  Uni- 
versity, and  to  the  direction  of  the  Faculty  of  Medicine. 

"  Article  III.  There  shall  be  holden  by  the  Faculty  an  annual  meeting 
for  the  purpose  of  examining  candidates  for  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Medicine.  This  should  be  holden  in  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Col- 
lege unless  otherwise  specially  ordered.  It  may  be  continued  by  ad- 
journment, by  vote  of  the  members  present,  and  if  only  one  member  attend 
at  the  time  and  place  designated  he  may  adjourn  the  meeting  from  day 
to  day  till  three  members  of  the  Faculty  may  attend  the  meeting.  Three 
members  of  the  Faculty  must  be  present  at  every  examination. 

"  Article  IV.  The  annual  meeting  for  examination  shall  be  holden  on 
the  day  next  succeeding  that  on  which  the  Winter  course  of  Medical  Lec- 
tures shall  terminate,  at  ten  o'clock  A.  M.  In  extraordinary  cases  the 
Faculty  may  hold  meetings  for  examinations  at  other  periods. 

"  Article  V.  Every  candidate  for  the  degree  of  Doctor  in  Medicine 
must  comply  with  the  following  conditions  before  being  admitted  to 
examinations,  viz. : 

"  ist.  He  shall  satisfy  the  Faculty  that  he  has  arrived  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one. 

"  2nd.  He  shall  have  attended  two  courses  of  Lectures  delivered  at  the 
Massachusetts  Medical  College  by  each  of  the  Professors;  except  that 
he  have  attended  a  course  of  similar  lectures  in  any  other  College  or 
University  the  same  may  take  place  of  one  of  the  above  courses. 

'*  3rd.  He  shall  have  employed  three  years  in  his  professional  study 
under  the  direction  of  a  regular  practitioner  of  medicine  except  that 
Graduates  of  College  in  good  standing  who  will  have  completed  three 
years  of  study  from  the  time  of  their  Graduation  at  the  next  annual 
Commencement,  may  be  admitted  to  examinations,  provided  they  bring 
evidence  of  having  attended,  while  undergraduates,  satisfactory  courses  of 
instruction  in   Anatomy,   Physiology,  and  Chemistry. 

"4th.  If  he  has  not  received  a  University  education  he  shall  satisfy 
the  Faculty  of  Medicine  in  respect  to  his  knowledge  of  the  Latin  language 
and  experimental  philosophy. 

"  5th.  He  shall,  four  weeks  previous  to  the  day  on  which  he  presents 
himself  for  examination,  have  given  notice  of  his  intention  n>  the  Dean 
of  the  Faculty,  and  at   the  same  time  shall  have  delivered  or  transmitted 


526  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

to  the  Dean  a  dissertation  written  by  himself  on  some  subject  connected 
with  medicine. 

"Article  VI.  Every  dissertation  shall  be  submitted  by  the  Dean  to  the 
examination  of  the  Faculty  in  the  mode  which  they  shall  point  out. 

"  Article  VII.  At  a  meeting  for  examinations,  the  Faculty  shall  exam- 
ine all  those  candidates  who  shall  present  themselves  after  having  com- 
plied with  the  conditions  enumerated  in  the  fifth  of  these  statutes  upon 
the  following  branches  of  medical  science,  namely :  Anatomy,  Physiology, 
Chemistry,  Materia  Medica,  Pharmacy,  Surgery,  and  the  Theory  and 
Practice  of  Medicine.  A  decision  in  respect  to  each  candidate  shall  be 
determined  by  the  vote  of  the  major  part  of  the  members  of  the  Faculty 
present  at  the  examination  of  the  same,  and  their  decision,  if  favorable 
to  the  candidate,  shall  be  recorded  by  the  Dean.  In  the  decision  to  be 
made  at  these  meetings  regard  should  be  had  to  the  dissertation  as  well 
as  to  the  examination. 

"  Article  VIII.  At  the  close  of  the  examination  the  Faculty  shall  decide 
in  respect  to  each  candidate  whether  he  shall  be  recommended  as  worthy 
of  the  degree  for  which  he  has  applied.  The  decision  of  the  Faculty  in 
respect  to  all  these  candidates,  whom  they  do  so  recommend,  shall  be 
recorded  by  the  Dean,  and  shall  by  him  be  certified  to  the  President,  to 
be  laid  before  the  Senatus  Academicus. 

"  Article  IX.  Those  candidates  who  have  received  from  the  Senatus 
Academicus  the  final  approbation  shall  be  admitted  to  the  degree  of  Doctor 
in  Medicine  by  the  President  of  the  University  at  a  public  Commencement 
holden  at  the  Massachusetts  Medical  College  on  the  Wednesday  next 
succeeding  the  day  of  the  examinations,  on  which  occasion  an  address 
shall  be  made  by  one  of  the  Medical  Professors,  selected  for  this  purpose 
by  the  Medical  Faculty. 

"  Public  invitation  to  attend  the  ceremony  shall  be  given  by  the  Dean 
of  the  Medical  Faculty  to  the  Fellows  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical 
Society,  to  all  medical  students,  and  to  every  person  who  may  take  an 
interest  in  medical  science. 

"All  which  is  respectfully  submitted 

"  James  Walker." 

"June  3,  1854." 

The  foregoing  Rules  and  Statutes  were  revised  January  26, 
1856,  with  the  following  alterations: 

"  Article  III.  To  read :  There  shall  be  holden  by  the  Faculty  two 
meetings  in  each  year  for  the  purpose  of  examining  candidates  for  the 
degree  of  Doctor  in  Medicine.  These  shall  be  holden  in  the  Massachusetts 
Medical  College  unless  otherwise  specially  ordered.  They  may  be  con- 
tinued by  adjournment,  by  vote  of  the  members  present,  and  if  only  one 


NORTH  GROVE  STREET  BUILDING  527 

member  attend  at  the  time  and  place  designated  he  may  adjourn  the  meet- 
ing from  day  to  day  till  three  members  of  the  Faculty  may  attend  the 
meeting.  Three  members  of  the  Faculty  must  be  present  at  every  exam- 
ination. 

"Art.  IV.  To  read:  The  first  meeting  for  examination  shall  be  held 
on  the  day  next  succeeding  that  on  which  the  winter  courses  end.  The 
second,  on  Monday  next  but  one  preceeding  the  Commencement  in  July. 
In  extraordinary  cases  the  Faculty  may  hold  meetings  for  examination  at 
other  times. 

"Art.  V.  3rd  condition  to  read:  He  shall  have  employed  three  years 
in  his  professional  studies  under  the  direction  of  a  regular  practitioner  of 
medicine. 

"  Art.  VII.     To  read  :    At  the  meeting the  Faculty  shall 

examine  all  those  candidates  ....  upon  the  following  branches  of 
medical  science :  Anatomy,  Physiology,  Morbid  Anatomy,  Chemistry, 
Materia   Medica,    Pharmacy,   Surgery,   Clinical   Medicine,   and   the   Theory 

and    Practice  of  Medicine.     A   decision,   etc as 

well  as  to  the  examination. 

"  Art.  IX.  To  read :  Those  candidates  who  have  at  the  Spring  exam- 
ination received  from  the  Senatus  Academicus,  etc 

On  which  occasion  an  address  shall  be  made  by  some  one  selected  for 
this  purpose  by  the  Medical  Faculty. 

'  Those  who  may  be  approved  at  the  summer  examination  will  receive 
their  degree  in   Cambridge  on   Commencement   day. 

"  Public    invitation,    etc " 


APPENDIX,   CHAPTER  XXI. 

WARREN    MUSEUM. 

"  To  The  President  of  Harvard  University. 

"  Dear  Sir,— 

'  The  Collection  of  Anatomical  Preparations,  which  I  have  with  much 
interest  and  pleasure  been  making  since  the  year  1800,  is  now  deposited 
in  the  room  prepared  for  it  in  the  Medical  College,  in  Grove  Street,  Boston. 
It  occupies  the  entire  room,  except  about  one-third  of  the  gallery. 

"  My  long  connection  with  the  University,  my  interest  in  its  prosperity, 
and  my  desire  to  contribute  to  the  improvement  of  medical  education, 
led  me  many  years  since  to  make  a  provision  for  bequeathing  it  to  the 
University;  but,  it  having  pleased  Him  who  gave  me  existence  to  continue 
it  to  this  time,  I  am  enabled  to  present  it  during  my  life. 

"  This    Collection    I    now   propose    to   give    to   the    University    at    Cam 
bridge,   for  the   use  of  the   Medical    College,   together   with   five   thousand 
dollars  of  slock  in  the   Pittsfield  and  North  Adams  Railroad, — guaranteed 


528  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

by  the  Western  Railroad  to  pay  an  interest  of  six  per  cent.,  or  three 
hundred  dollars  per  annum,  tor  thirty  years, — on  the  following  con- 
ditions : — 

"  First,  The  Collection  shall  be  kept  insured  perpetually  for  a  sum  not 
less  than  ten  thousand  dollars.  In  case  of  loss,  the  sum  recovered  from 
the  insurance  to  be  applied  to  forming  another  collection  for  purposes 
similar  to  those  for  which  this  is  intended. 

"Second,  The  Preparations  shall  be  maintained  in  good  order,  and 
shall  be  increased  as  fast  as  the  income  of  the  funds  will  admit ;  mean- 
ing, that  the  income  shall  be  applied  to  this  object  after  paying  the 
insurance  before  named. 

"  Third,  That  this  Anatomical  Museum  shall  be  annually  inspected,  as 
are  other  collections  in  the  University,  by  a  committee  appointed  for  the 
purpose,  of  which  one  of  my  descendants  shall  be  a  member,  provided 
there  be  such  descendant  residing  in  the  vicinity  and  willing  to  attend 
to  the  duty. 

"  Should  it  please  the  Government  of  the  University  to  accept  the  pro- 
posed donation  with  the  foregoing  conditions,  I  will  cause  the  stock  to 
be  transferred  to  them  on  the  first  day  of  January  next. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  respectfully, 

"  Your  friend  and  servant, 

"John  C.  Warren." 

"Boston,  Dec.  16,  1847." 

"History  of  the  Anatomical  Collection  Deposited  in  the  Massachu- 
setts  Medical  College  in   Boston,  November   ist,   1847. 

"  The  importance  of  illustrating  the  structure  of  the  human  body  by 
preparations  displaying  the  different  organs  has  been  well  understood 
in  Europe  for  more  than  a  century.  While  pursuing  my  medical  studies 
in  London,  in  the  years  1799  and  1800,  1  learnt  the  mode  of  making  these 
preparations,  and,  with  the  hope  of  aiding  my  predecessor  in  his  lectures, 
formed  a  small  collection,  which  I  brought  home  about  the  end  of  1802. 
In  the  beginning  of  these  labors  I  had  the  assistance  of  my  friend,  Mr. 
Senter,  of  Newport,  at  that  time  a  fellow-student  in  Guy's  Hospital,  and. 
with  myself,  the  only  person  engaged  in  this  way  in  that  great  institu- 
tion. After  a  short  and  brilliant  career,  Senter  died,  and  I  purchased 
his  collection  from  his  heirs. 

"In  1809,  three  years  after  being  appointed  Adjunct  Professor,  my 
predecessor  in  office  and  myself  formed  an  Anatomical  Theatre  and  a 
Dissecting-room  at  No.  49  Marlboro'  Street.  At  that  time  being  able 
to  obtain  a  considerable  number  of  subjects,  I  had  great  opportunities 
for  prosecuting  this  labor,  and  by  the  year  1816,  when  we  removed  to  the 
Medical  College  in  Mason  Street,  the  number  of  preparations  was  suffi- 
cient to  occupy  a   room   in   that   building. 


NORTH  GROVE  STREET  BUILDING  529 

"  The  Medical  School  increasing  gradually,  I  was  encouraged  to  pur- 
chase preparations  occasionally,  at  the  same  time  occupying  myself,  and 
such  students  as  exhibited  the  necessary  talent  and  industry,  in  increasing 
the  collection.  Some  specimens  belonging  to  the  Linnaean  Society,  and 
given,  on  its  dissolution,  to  Harvard  College,  were  deposited  with  me 
for  preservation.  Most  of  these  were  sent  to  the  Museum  at  Cambridge, 
but  some  of  them  I  received  authority  to  add  to  the  Museum  in  the 
Massachusetts  Medical  College.  In  1830  my  son,  Dr.  J.  Mason  Warren, 
purchased  in  Paris  preparations  to  the  amount  of  two  thousand  dollars. 

'"By  the  year  1834.  the  collection  had  so  much  increased  as  to  require 
additional  room.  On  representing  this  to  the  late  Treasurer,  T.  VV.  Ward, 
Esq.,  that  gentleman  applied  to  the  Corporation,  and  it  was  settled,  that, 
1  n  my  paying  the  sum  of  one  thousand  dollars,  the  Corporation  would 
appropriate  as  much,  for  the  erection  of  a  new  dissecting-room,  and  the 
arrangement  of  the  old  one  for  the  anatomical  collection. 

"  Soon  after  this,  going  to  Europe,  I  made  large  purchases  in  different 
cities ;  particularly,  I  had  specially  prepared  at  the  Hospital  St.  Louis 
a  number  of  wax  pieces,  exhibiting  lively  representations  of  the  small-pox, 
and  other  diseases  of  the  skin. 

''  I  ought  not  to  omit  to  mention  the  names  of  those  who  have  from 
time  to  time  assisted  in  my  labors.  In  the  incipient  state  of  the  collection, 
great  assistance  was  given  me  by  Dr.  William  Gamage,  Jr.,  of  Cambridge, 
an  able  anatomist  and  learned  physician.  Drs.  Winslow  Lewis,  J.  Mason 
Warren,  Jeffries  Wymnn,  and  Samuel  Parlcman  have  afforded  much  time 
and  valuable  aid.  I  am  also  indebted  for  occasional  donations,  among 
others,  to  Dr.  James  Jackson.  Professors  Channing,  Hayward,  Webster, 
and   J.   B.   S.   Jackson,   Drs.   A.   L.   Peirson   and   Winslow   Lewis. 

"The  preparations  brought  home  in  the  year  1838,  and  a  large  number 
purchased  by  Dr.  J.  M.  Warren,  at  the  expense  of  about  one  thousand 
dollars,  on  his  second  visit  to  Europe,  increased  the  collection  so  much 
that  it  began  to  be  an  object  of  curiosity  to  medical  students  and  other-, 
and  a  desire  was  manifested  of  having  the  collection  opened  to  the  Medical 
School.  President  Quincy  applied  to  me  on  the  subject,  and  expressed  a 
wish  that  this  desire  should  be  gratified.  On  investigation,  however,  he 
and  other  gentlemen  of  the  Government  of  the  University  were  satisfied 
that  the  exposed  state  of  the  preparations  would  render  this  object! 
able,  without  some  additional  protection.  But  the  Corporation  did  nol 
think  themselves  justified  in  appropriating  anything  for  this  object.  Not- 
withstanding the  wan*  of  security  to  the  preparations,  the  desire  mani- 
fested by  medical  -indents  to  see  the  collection  as  a  whole  was  so  Strong, 
that,  some  years  since.  I  adopted  the  practice  of  admitting  the  Class 
occasionally. 

''The  increase  in  the  number  of  students,  and  the  defective  accomnr 
dation  of  some  of  the  Professors,  having  led  to  thi  truction  of  the 


530  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

new  College,  a  spacious  and  elegant  room  was  appropriated  to  the  recep- 
tion of  the  Anatomical  Cabinet,  in  which  the  collection  could  be  fairly 
displayed,  and  sufficiently  protected;  thus  affording  the  requisite  means 
for  opening  the  new  Museum  to  the  inspection  of  medical  students  and 
others  interested  in  medical  science.  The  preparations  have  been  accord- 
ingly deposited  there,  and  presented  to  the  University  for  the  use  of  the 
Medical   School.  .<j0HN  c    Warren." 

"  The  foregoing  communication  from  Dr.  Warren  having  been  sub- 
mitted to  the  Corporation  by  the  President,  on  the  27th  December,  the 
following  resolutions  were  adopted  by  the  Board  : 

"  Voted,  That  the  Corporation  receive  with  great  sensibility  this  new 
and  distinguished  proof  of  the  enlightened  interest  taken  by  Dr.  Warren 
in  the  prosperity  of  the  Medical  College ;  that  they  accept  with  gratitude 
his  munificent  donation  on  the  conditions  proposed  in  his  letter  to  the 
President,  of  the  16th  instant,  and  will  also  recommend  to  the  Overseers 
to  give  effect  to  the  same,  in  appointing  the  committees  of  examination. 

"  Voted,  That  in  commemoration  of  the  liberality  evinced  by  Dr.  War- 
ren in  this  donation,  and  of  the  zealous,  long-continued,  and  faithful 
services  of  himself  and  his  honored  father  for  the  promotion  of  medical 
education,  the  collection  of  anatomical  preparations  now  presented  by  Dr. 
Warren  to  the  President  and  Fellows  be  known  and  designated  as  the 
'  Warren  Anatomical  Museum,'  and  that  this  name  be  placed  in  gold  letters 
over  the  door  of  entrance  to  the  Museum." 


MEN  AND  MANNERS,  CHARLES  W.  ELIOT, 

THE  SUMMER  SCHOOL, 

THE  TEACHING  STAFF  THIRTY-FIVE  YEARS  AGO, 

AN  EXECUTIVE  FACULTY, 

THE  BEGINNING  OF  A  NEW  ERA, 

18^  TO  1871. 


MEN  AND  MANNERS  533 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

MEN      AND     MANNERS.       CHARLES      W.      ELIOT.       THE     SUMMER 

SCHOOL.       THE    TEACHING  STAFF   THIRTY-FIVE   YEARS 

AGO.       AN    EXECUTIVE    FACULTY.       THE 

BEGINNING   OF  A   NEW    ERA. 

1855  to  1871. 

The  Faculty  made  an  arrangement  with  Henry  I.  Bowditch 
(May  25th,  1855)  by  which  the  students  might  be  admitted  for 
Clinical  Instruction  to  his  wards  at  the  Massachusetts  General 
Hospital.  They  also  arranged  with  John  Bacon  that  as 
microscopist  of  the  Hospital  he  should  make  microscopic  dem- 
onstrations to  students  of  the  specimens  of  cases  which  came 
under  his  notice. 

Extensive  repairs  were  begun  on  the  Medical  School  Build- 
ing in  [855,  repairs  which  the  College  Treasurer  was  author- 
ized to  pay,  "not  exceeding  $2000;  provided  the  Faculty  of 
the  department  of  the  University  shall  obligate  themselves  to 
pay  so  long  as  they  continue  in  office  the  interest  on  the 
sum  thus  advanced  by  the  President  and  Fellows,  and  also 
five  percentum  of  the  principal  sum  each  year". 

The  principal  changes  in  the  workings  of  the  School  dur- 
ing the  year  1856  and  '57  were,  the  releasing  (Sept.  27,  [856) 
of  the  Erving  Professor  of  Chemistry,  at  his  own  request 
and  agreeable  to  the  wishes  of  the  Medical  Faculty,  from  de- 
livering lectures  at  the  Medical  College  in  Boston:  and  the 
appointment  (Oct.  25,  1856)  of  Dr.  John  Bacon  and  Mr. 
Charles  W.  Eliot*  as  Lecturers  in  Chemistry  in  the  Medical 

*  Now  President  nf  the  University,  1005. 


534  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

School  for  that  year.  On  September  27,  1856,  Morrill  Wy- 
man  resigned  as  Adjunct  Hersey  Professor  of  Theory  and 
Practice.  On  November  15,  1856,  Austin  Flint  (M.D.  Harv. 
1833)  was  appointed  "to  deliver  such  of  the  lectures  on  Theory 
and  Practice  of  Medicine  as  may  be  agreed  upon  between 
him  and  Dr.  Ware''.  Flint  found  Buffalo  more  attractive,  and 
never  took  up  his  duties  in  Boston. 

Candidates  for  degrees  were  now  allowed  ten  minutes  each 
for  examination,  their  theses  to  make  a  part  of  said  examina- 
tion. A  surgical  conference  at  the  Hospital  was  added  in 
September,  1857. 

The  following  letter  from  Thomas  Lee  explains  itself : 

irr.        „.  "Boston,  November  15,  1856. 

Dear  Sir: 

"  T  herewith  hand  you  eleven  shares  of  the  Atlantic  Cotton  Mills 
and  eleven  shares  of  the  Great  Falls  Manufacturing  Company,  which  are 
transferred  to  the  present  Fellows  of  Harvard  College  to  be  held  by  them 
in  full  property  subject  to  the  following  conditions,  viz.:  The  income  of 
said  property  to  be  paid  as  it  accrues  and  as  an  addition  to  the  present 
salary  now  received  by  him  to  Dr.  Jeffries  Wyman,  the  Hersey  Professor 
of  Anatomy,  as  long  as  he  remains  in  office;  and  further  also  for  the 
term  of  his  natural  life  unless  he  shall  have  previously  and  not  of  his 
own  accord,  and  not  from  infirmity  have  resigned  said  office  or  shall 
have  been  removed  from  it  from  some  cause  implying  unworthiness  on 
his   part. 

"  After  the  death  of  said  Wyman  my  desire  is  that  the  said  fund  shall 
remain  for  the  support  of  said  Professorship  to  be  managed  and  the 
income  to  be  appropriated  therefor  in  such  manner  as  the  President  and 
Fellows  shall  think  proper. 

"  (Signed)  Thomas  Lee." 

On  March  21,  1857,  John  Bacon  was  elected  University 
Professor  of  Chemistry  for  the  Medical  School. 

A  committee  was  appointed  by  the  Medical  Faculty,  No- 
vember 21,  1857,  to  consider  and  report  upon  the  expediency 
of  establishing  a  Summer  School  of  the  Harvard  Medical 
School.  Upon  the  report  of  this  Committee  it  was  voted 
(Jan.    18,    1858)    to   request   the  Corporation   to   establish   a 


MEN  AND  MANNERS  535 

course  of  Medical  Instruction  during-  the  period  intervening 
between  the  winter  courses  of  Lectures;  the  proposed  course 
to  be  under  the  direction  of  the  Medical  Faculty.  This  the 
Corporation  did  (February  27,  1856)  through  the  following 
resolution : 

'  That  the  Medical  Faculty  be  authorized  to  establish  a  course  of 
Medical  instruction  during  the  period  intervening  between  the  winter 
courses ;  it  being  understood  that  no  change  is  contemplated  in  the  amount 
or  character  of  the  present  winter  instructions  nor  in  the  requisites  for  a 
Medical  degree,  nor  in  any  of  the  Rules  and  Statutes  of  the  Medical  School 
now  in  force ;  and  that  no  additional  pecuniary  charge  will  be  incurred 
by  the   College. 

:  That  each  Professor  shall  have  the  charge  of  and  be  responsible  for 
the  instruction  in  his  own  department  during  the  Summer  as  well  as 
during  the  Winter  Session ;  with  the  understanding  that  if  a  Professor 
desires  to  have  a  Demonstrator  or  an  Assistant  during  the  summer  session 
he  shall  be  allowed  to  select  one  with  the  approval  of  the  Faculty.  Such 
Assistants  standing  in  the  same  relation  to  the  Faculty  and  to  the  Uni- 
versity as  the  present  demonstrator  of  Anatomy." 

During  the  discussion  on  the  question  of  establishing  a 
continuous  course  of  studies,  such  as  it  was  believed  the  sum- 
mer school  would  inaugurate,  the  practice  of  conducting  all 
the  examinations  in  writing  was  instituted,  an  early  step  in 
the  direction  of  our  present  methods  at  the  Medical  School. 
The  success  of  the  summer  school  was  assured  financially  by 
the  generosity  of  Messrs.  William  P.  Sturgis,  John  C.  dish- 
ing, Thomas  Lee,  and  Jonathan  Phillips,  each  giving  five 
thousand  dollars  towards  a  fund  for  this  department  in  the 
University.  The  fund  thus  created  was  used  to  liquidate  the 
debt  on  the  North  Grove  Street  building.  It  created  also 
the  nucleus  of  a  fund  to  be  called  the  "Jackson  Medical 
Fund."  *  The  first  session  of  the  Summer  School  was  begun 
March  15,  1858.    The  Catalogue  of  that  year  states  : 

'"The  Corporation  of  Harvard  University,  at  the  instance  of  the  Med- 
ical  Faculty,  acting  upon  the  experience  of  the  Tremont  Street   School. 

*  See  Appendix,  Chapter  XXI 1. 


536  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

which  has  extended  over  a  quarter  of  a  century,  have  decided  to  intro- 
duce a  similar  system  of  instruction  into  the  Medical  Department  of  the 
University. 

"  Accordingly,  medical  instruction  will  hereafter  be  given  by  the  Faculty 
during  the  whole  year  with  the  exception  only  of  appropriate  vacations. 
The  summer  instruction  which  has  hitherto  been  given  by  the  Tremont 
Street  School — an  institution  for  private  medical  instruction — will  for  the 
future  be  given  by  the  Medical  Faculty  of  the  College  under  the  auspices 
of  Harvard  University. 

"  By  adopting  this  course — in  reality  extending  medical  instruction 
thro  the  year,  a  part  of  which  will  be  devoted  to  lectures,  and  a  part 
to  other  modes  of  systematic  study  and  training — the  faculty  believe  that 
they  are  offering  to  medical  students  the  best  possible  method  of  pre- 
paring themselves  for  the  practice  of  medicine  and  surgery,  and  to  the 
medical  community  the  best  assurance  that  Harvard  University  is  using 
its  utmost  endeavors  to  elevate  the  character  of  the  Medical  profession. 

"  This  proposed  method  of  imparting  medical  education,  by  means  of 
lectures  during  one  portion  of  the  year,  and  of  recitations  and  study 
and  closest  observation  during  the  other  portion,  under  the  supervision 
of  the  same  instructors,  so  that  there  may  be  a  mutual  adaptation  between 
the  lectures  of  the  professors  in  winter  and  the  studies  and  observations 
of  the  students  during  the  summer,  is  believed  to  combine  greater  ad- 
vantages   for   medical    instruction    than    any    other    system. 

"  In  order  to  carry  out  this  plan  of  medical  education,  all  the  facilities 
which  Harvard  University  possesses  for  medical  education  will  be  em- 
ployed. The  plan  of  instruction  and  the  character  of  these  facilities  are 
as  follows : 

"Each  year  is  divided   into  Two  Terms  or  Sessions. 

"  During  the  winter  session,  lectures  will  be  given  as  heretofore,  com- 
mencing on  the  first  Wednesday  in  November,  in  Theory  and  Practice  of 
Physic,  Obstetrics  and  Medical  Jurisprudence,  Anatomy  and  Physiology, 
Pathological  Anatomy,  Surgery,  Materia  Medica  and  Therapeutics,  Chem- 
istry, Clinical  Medicine,  and  Clinical   Surgery. 

"During  the  Summer  Term,  instruction  will  be  given  by  means  of  reci- 
tations from  text  books,  demonstrations,  etc.,  in  all  the  branches  just 
enumerated,  except  in  Clinical  Medicine  and  Clinical  Surgery.  Both  the 
latter  will  be  taught  practically  thro'  the  year  at  the  Massachusetts 
General   Hospital. 

"  Instruction  by  lectures  is  also  given  at  Cambridge  during  the  Summer 
Session — in  Botany  by  Professor  Gray;  on  Comparative  Anatomy  by  Pro- 
fessor Wyman;  in  Zoology  by  Professor  Agassiz;  and  in  Accoustics  and 
Optics  by  Professor  Lovering.  To  these  lectures  students  of  the  Summer 
Session  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  College  will  be  admitted  without 
extra  charge. 


MEN  AND  MANNERS  537 

"  The  instruction  which  is  given  during  the  summer  will  be  superin- 
tended in  each  department  by  the  professor  who  lectures  in  that  depart- 
ment in  the  winter. 

"  The  Faculty  recommend  to  students  constant  attendance  at  the  Hos- 
pital, and  to  those  who  are  able  to  pass  the  whoie  three  years  of  pupilage 
under  their  direction,  the  selection  of  certain  branches  during  the  first 
two  years  of  preparation  to  the  exclusion  of  others. 

"  Thus  they  advise  that  the  first  year  should  be  mainly  devoted  to 
Anatomy  and  Physiology,  Chemistry,  Pathological  Anatomy,  Surgery  and 
Dissection. 

"  For  the  second  year,  they  advise  the  study  of  Theory  and  Practice, 
Midwifery,  Diseases  of  Women  and  Children,  and  Medical  Jurisprudence, 
Materia  Medica  and  Pharmacy,  Diseases  of  Eye  and  Ear,  Clinical  Obser- 
vations at  the  Hospital  and  a  continuation  of  Dissection. 

"  The  Third  year  should  be  devoted  to  a  review  of  these  branches,  or  of 
such  of  them  as  the  student  finds  himself  to  be  least  acquainted  with. 
During  the  last  year  the  student  is  supposed  to  know  his  own  deficiencies 
and  to  have  made  a  choice  of  the  direction  he  is  likely  to  follow,*  and 
therefore  to  select  for  himself  those  branches  which  are  best  adapted  to 
his  wants. 

"  Jn  accordance  with  the  present  arrangements  the  academic  year  of 
the  School  is  divided  into  two  sessions,  viz.,  the  winter  term,  extending 
from  November  to  February,  inclusive ;  and  the  Summer  Term  extending 
from  March  to  October,  inclusive. 

"  The  winter  Term  includes  the  Medical  Lectures  at  the  College.  In- 
struction by  recitation  is  given  during  the  Summer  Term.  Gentlemen 
who  spend  one  or  more  years  at  the  school,  will  have  Lectures,  Recitation, 
or  Examination  daily,  throughout  the  academic  year. 

"The  collateral  reading  which  has  been  pointed  out  by  the  Faculty, 
will  advantageously  occupy  all  the  time  not  required  to  prepare  for  the 
regular  exercises  of  the  School. 

"  Students  who  waul  to  go  over  the  whole  ground  in  a  single  year,  and 
propose  to  follow  the  plan  arranged  for  that  purpose,  will  have  two,  and 
perhaps  three  recitations  a  day.  Their  opportunity  for  collateral  reading 
and  clinical  observation  will,  of  course,  be  more  limited  than  if  they 
remained  in  the  school  a  longer  period. 

"  The  Faculty,  however,  cannot  impress  too  strongly  upon  students  the 
importance  of  not  undertaking  too  many  studies  at  once.  Those  who  try 
to  go  over  the  whole  ground  in  a  single  year,  are  in  great  danger  of 
acquiring  only  a  superficial  knowledge  of  their  profession. 

"The  dissection  room  of  the  school  is  at  the  Massachusetts  Medical 
College. 

*  First  suggestion  of  specializing. 


538 


HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 


'  Terms  for  Summer  Session  $ico.oo  without  extra  charge  for  dissec- 
tion or  otherwise.  For  the  Winter  Session,  not  including  dissection, 
$8o.co;   Matriculation   fee,  $3;   payable  but  once." 


The  number  of  students  in  this  first  session  was,  34. 
following  program  was  advertised : 


The 


COURSES  OF  THE  FIRST  TWO  YEARS. 


Month.  First  year. 

Anatomy  &  Physiology. 2  a  week 
March     Surgery     2  a  week 

Practical    Anatomy 

Hospital 
April       Anatomy  &  Physiology. 2  a  week 

Surgery     2  a  week 

Practical    Anatomy 

Hospital 
May         Anatomy  &  Physiology  .2  a  week 

Surgery     2  a  week 

Chemistry     2  a  week 

Practical    Anatomy 

Hospital 
June         Chemistry     2  a  week 

Hospital 
July  Chemistry     2  a  week 

Hospital 
Aug.         Vacation 

Hospital 
Sept.         Anatomy     2  a  week 

Practical    Anatomy 

Hospital 
Oct.  Anatomy     2  a  week 

Practical    Anatomy 

Hospital 
Nov.         Public    Lecture 

at  the   Mass.   Med.    College. 

Weekly   examination   on   each 

course   delivered  at  the    College 
Dec.        Ibid 
Jan.  Ibid 

Feb.         Ibid 

"  Daily  visits  to  Hosp.    3d  yr.  stu 


Second    year. 

Theory    &    Practice 2  a  week 

Practical   Anatomy 
Hospital 

Theory    &    Practice 2  a  week 

Practical  Anatomy 
Hospital 

Theory    &    Practice 2  a  week 

Practical   Anatomy 

Hospital 

Midwifery,      Sic,      diseases      of 

women    and    children 2  a  week 

Hospital 

Midwifery,    &c 2  a  week 

Materia    Medica 2  a  week 

Hospital 
Vacation 
Hospital 

Midwifery,     &c 2  a  week 

Materia     Medica 2  a  week 

Practical  Anatomy 
Hospital 

Materia     Medica 2  a  week 

Practical  Anatomy 

Hospital 

Public    Lecture 

at  the  Mass.   Med.    College. 

Weekly  examination   on  each 

course  delivered  at  the  College 

Ibid 

Ibid 

Ibid 


dents  elect  their  own  course  of  studies." 


ONE  YEAR   COURSE,  TWO  YEARS   IN   ONE. 


March  Anatomy  &  Physiology. 2  a  week 
Surgery  &  Hospital.  .  .2  a  week 
Theory  &  Practice.  ..  .2  a  week 
Practical    Anatomy 

April  Anatomy  &  Physiology. 2  a  week 
Surgery  &  Hospital.  ..2  a  week 
Theory  &  Practice.  ..  .2  a  week 
Practical    Anatomy 

May  Anatomy  &  Physiology  .2  a  week 
Surgery  &  Hospital.  ..2  a  week 
Theory   &    Practice.  ..  .2  a  week 

Chemistry     2  a  week 

Practical    Anatomy 

J  Line         Chemistry     2  a  week 

Midwifery,    &c 2  a  week 

Hospital 

July  Chemistry     2  a  week 

Midwifery     2  a  week 

Materia     Medica 2  a  week 

Hospital 


Aug. 

Sept. 


Oct. 


Nov. 


I  )ec. 
Ian. 
Feb. 


Vacation 

Hospital 
Materia      Medica 2  a  week 

Midwifery     2  a  week 

Anatomy 

Practical    Anatomy 

Hospital 
Materia     Medica 2  a  week 

Anatomy 

Practical    Anatomy 

Hospital 

Public    Lecture 

at   the   Mass.    Med.    College. 

Weekly   examinations     on     each 

of  the  courses  delivered  at  Col- 
lege. 

[bid 

[bid 

Ibid 


MEN  AND  MANNERS  539 

John  Ware  resigned  his  professorship  July  31,  1858,  and 
the  Corporation  in  accepting  the  resignation  (August  28, 
1858)  voted: 

'  That  in  accepting  the  resignation  of  Professor  Ware  this  Board  cannot 
refrain  from  expressing  their  regret  at  the  serious  loss  which  the  Medical 
School  incurs  in  this  event. 

'  That  the  President  in  communicating  this  vote  to  Dr.  Ware  be  re- 
quested to  signify  to  him  the  sense  entertained  by  this  Board  of  the  great 
value  of  his  services  to  the  University  for  the  twenty-six  years  during 
which  he  has  been  connected  with  it.  resulting  as  well  from  the  soundness 
of  his  judgment  and  the  excellence  and  weight  of  his  character,  as  from 
his  learning  nnd  professional  eminence." 

Arrangements  were  now  made  by  which  students  were 
permitted  to  visit  the  Boston  Dispensary  (1858)  during  the 
continuation  of  the  Lectures  at  the  School.  For  the  facilities 
thus  afforded  the  School  paid  one  hundred  dollars,  and  later 
two  hundred  dollars  to  the  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  the 
Dispensary. 

The  resignation  of  Ware  resulted  in  the  following  further 
changes : 

George  C.  Shattuck  resigned  his  professorship  in  Clinical 
Medicine,  January  22,  1859,  and  was  immediately  elected 
Hersey  Professor  of  Theory  and  Practice  of  Physic.  Henry 
Tngersoll  Bowditch  was  elected  (January  22,  1859)  Professor 
of  Clinical  Medicine. 

The  question  of  honoring  the  name  of  James  Jackson  by 
some  appropriate  memorial  was  considered  further  by  both 
Faculty  and  Corporation.  The  former  suggested  that  the 
name  James  Jackson  he  prefixed  to  that  of  the  Medical 
School.  Finally  a  letter  signed  by  the  Subscribers  to  the  Med- 
ical Fund*  was  sent  to  the  Corporation,  suggesting  thai  the 
name  of  James  Jackson  be  in  some  way  connected  with  the 

*  Josiah  Quincy,  Wm.  Sturgis,  John  P.  Cushing,  (by  Wm.  Sturgis, 
Atty.),  Thomas  Lee,  J.  Phillips,  Nathl.  Thayer,  Mary  Pratt,  II.  II.  Hunne- 

well,  R.  M.  Mason  for  S.  E.  Mason,  N.  T.  Bowditch  for  Wm.   Bowditch. 


540  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Medical  Department  of  the  University,  urging  that  they  be- 
lieved such  a  measure  would  be  highly  acceptable  to  the  com- 
munity, that  it  would  materially  assist  in  securing  the  amounts 
proposed  to  be  raised  by  the  Medical  Faculty  for  the  benefit 
of  the  Institution,  and  furthermore  that  it  would  be  an  honor 
justly  due  to  Jackson  for  his  eminent  services  to  the  College 
and  to  Medical  Science,  as  well  as  a  suitable  expression  and 
memorial  of  the  public  esteem  which  he  had  won  by  his  per- 
sonal and  professional  character;  and  by  a  long  life  of  use- 
fulness. This  resulted  in  the  following  action  by  the  Cor- 
poration April  30th,   1859: — 

"  Whereas  the  President  and  Fellows  of  Harvard  College  fully  concur 
in  the  sentiments  of  respect  for  Dr.  James  Jackson  expressed  in  the 
foregoing  communication  and  in  the  opinion  of  the  fitness  and  propriety 
of  permanently  connecting  his  name  with  an  Institution  which  he  has  done 
so  much  to  build  up  and  make  useful  to  the  public. 

'  Therefore,  Voted ;  That  the  Fund  by  the  contributors  whose  names 
are  given  above  together  with  such  additions  as  shall  be  made  to  these 
sums,   shall  be   called  the  '  Jackson  Medical   Fund.' 

"  Voted  That  the  Professorship  of  Clinical  Medicine,  which  was  first 
filled  by  Dr.  Jackson  shall  be  known  hereafter  under  the  name  and  style 
of  Jackson  Professorship  of  Clinical  Medicine." 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  in  1861  the  School  had 
as  a  Faculty : 

Thomas  Hill,  D.  D.,  President ;  D.  Humphreys  Storer,  Dean,  Professor, 
Midwifery  and  Medical  Jurisprudence;  John  B.  S.  Jackson,  Professor, 
Pathological  Anatomy ;  Plenry  I.  Bowditch,  Jackson  Professor,  Clinical 
Medicine;  Oliver  W.  Holmes,  Professor,  Anatomy  and  Physiology;  George 
C.  Shattuck,  Hersey  Professor,  Theory  and  Practice ;  John  Bacon,  Pro- 
fessor, Chemistry ;  Henry  J.  Bigelow,  Professor,  Surgery ;  Edward  H. 
Clarke,   Professor,  Materia  Medica. 

The  course  of  lectures  was  still  seventeen  weeks,  beginning 
on  the  first  Wednesday  in  November.  After  this  the  Summer 
Course  began  and  continued  up  to'  November  in  the  manner 
described  above.  The  following  schedule  illustrates  the  daily 
division  of  time: — 


MEN  AND  MANNERS 


541 


ORDER  OF  LECTURES,  DAILY. 


"  Hour. 

Monday. 

Tuesday. 

Wednesday 

Thursday. 

Friday. 

Saturday. 

9  o'clock 

10  o'clock 

11  o'clock 

Shattuck 
(Hosp.) 

Bigeiow 

Clarke 

Shattuck 

Jackson 

Clai  ke 

Ware 

Bigelow 

Shattuck 
(Hosp.) 

Clarke 

Ware 

Bigelow 

Storei 

Bigelow 
(Hosp.) 

12  o'clock 

Storer 

Bacon 

Storer 

Bacon 

Museum 

I  o'clock 

Holmes 

Holmes 

Holmes 

Holmes 

Holme  - 

4  o'clock 

Shattuck 

(Ho- 

. 

—  FEES — 

"'  Fees  for  Lectures,  $8o.oo. 

"  Matriculation,  $3.00. 

'"'Demonstrator's   Ticket    (optional),  $5.00. 

"  Fee   for  Graduation,  $20.00. 

"'  Use  of  Library  and  attendance  on  Hospital,  Free." 

The  Medical  Faculty  approved  the  following  nominations 
(January  27,  i860)  of  assistants  in  the  Summer  School: 
Calvin  Ellis,  Richard  M.  Hodges,  Joseph  F.  Gould,  William 
E.  Coale,  Francis  Minot,  and  Fitch  E.  Oliver,  (February  17, 
i860).  This  session  of  the  School  suffered  in  the  attendance 
of  students  on  account  of  the  War.  Henry  I.  Bowditch,  in 
his  account  of  the  School  Alumni,  says  that  in  the  summer  of 
1862  almost  every  student  had  left,  in  response  to  the  re- 
peated calls  of  the  Surgeon-General  for  volunteers.  The  part 
these  and  other  alumni  played  in  the  war  will  be  reserved  for 
record  in  a  separate  chapter. 

The  right  to  certain  lots  of  land  about  the  Medical  School 
building  had  been  more  or  less  in  dispute  ever  since  Samuel 
Parkman's  death  in  1854.  The  question  was  settled  by  the 
President  and  Fellows  voting  (August  30,  i860)  to  give  a 
deed  to  the  Parkman  heirs,  disclaiming  all  right  to  land  on 
the  western  side  of  the  Medical  School  building  on  North 
Grove  Street;  also  in  relation  to  the  land  on  the  eastern  side 
of  the  building. 


542  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

In  1862  permission  was  granted,  by  which  the  Lectures  at 
Cambridge  were  made  available  to  students  of  the  Medical 
School,  without  extra  charge.  Later  when  this  privilege  was 
made  reciprocal  the  Medical  Faculty  protested,  and  in  1882 
the  President  and  Fellows  defined  explicitly  the  relationship 
between  the  two  departments  of  the  University,  namely  that 
the  attendance  upon  lectures  in  the  Medical  School  by  under- 
graduates from  Cambridge  could  not  be  counted  as  a  condi- 
tion for  recommending  a  candidate  for  a  Medical  Degree. 

Instruction  in  Chemistry  was  now  (1862)  continued 
through  the  second  year  course  in  the  Summer  School.  It 
was  also  decided  to  divide  the  classes  into  sections  in  order 
that  the  facilities  at  the  Hospital  and  Dispensary  might  be 
made  more  available, — one  third  of  the  class  to  attend  the 
Hospital,  "east  wing";  one  third  the  Hospital  "west  wing"; 
one  third  the  Dispensary,  on  Mondays.  These  sections  were 
to  interchange  on  Wednesdays,  and  again  on  Fridays,  thus 
giving  each  section  a  visit  to  the  two  wings  of  the  Hospital 
as  well  as  to  the  dispensary  each  week.  Henry  I.  Bowditch 
was  to  give  a  Clinical  Lecture  of  about  half  an  hour's  dura- 
tion on  Mondays,  Wednesdays  and  Fridays. 

In  1863  the  weekly  clinical  conference,  which  had  been 
established  under  G.  C.  Shattuck,  was  transferred  to  Bow- 
ditch.  The  University  Lectures  were  reestablished  this  year, 
and  O.  W.  Flolmes  was  requested  by  the  Faculty  to  give  a 
course  of  Lectures  on  the  microscope. 

On  April  23rd,  1863,  Calvin  Ellis  was  elected  Adjunct 
Professor  of  Theory  and  Practice.  On  October  10th,  1863, 
George  Hayward  died ;  "A  child  of  the  College,  he  was  loyal 
to  its  interests  throughout  life.  In  his  prime  he  was  a  faith- 
ful Professor  in  one  of  its  departments  of  instruction,  and  in 
his  later  years  he  brought  to  its  service  in  the  Board  an  affec- 
tionate zeal,  prudent  counsel,  and  a  large  and  varied  knowl- 
edge of  men  and  affairs." 


MEN  AND  MANNERS  543 

The  Corporation  voted  (June  II,  1864)  to  establish  in  the 
Medical  School  a  Professorship  of  the  Physiology  and  Path- 
ology of  the  Nervous  System,  the  duties  of  the  Professor  "to 
be  such  as  may  be  determined  from  time  to  time,  and  the  com- 
pensation of  the  Professor  to  be  derived  from  fees."  Charles 
E.  Brown-Sequard  was  chosen  for  the  chair.  Upon  the  resig- 
nation of  Storer  as  Dean  (September  12,  1864)  G.  C.  Shat- 
tuck  was  elected  to  that  office. 

The  newly  opened  City  Hospital  was  offered  to-  the  School, 
in  1864,  as  a  place  of  instruction  for  medical  students. 

By  a  vote  of  the  Corporation,  October  20,  1865,  Calvin  Ellis 
was  transferred  as  Adjunct  Professor  from  the  Department 
of  Theory  and  Practice  to  that  of  Clinical  Medicine,  and  Ed- 
ward Buckingham  was  elected  Adjunct  Professor  of  Theory 
and  Practice.  This  change  was  made  because  the  Corpora- 
tion thought  it  inadvisable  to  have  two  Adjunct  Professors 
in  one  department  and  none  in  other  departments. 

Many  changes  now  resulted.  The  Faculty  were  anxious 
to  obtain  the  endowment  from  the  Hersey  Professorship, 
"which  this  Faculty  have  always  maintained  was  intended 
for  the  Medical  School  rather  than  for  the  College."  With 
this  end  in  view  it  was  suggested  that  Jeffries  Wyman,  in- 
cumbent of  the  Hersey  Professorship  of  Anatomy  since  its 
separation  from  the  Medical  School  in  1847,  be  elected  a 
member  of  the  Medical  Faculty.  It  was  voted  by  the  Cor- 
poration on  January  20,  1866,  that  "Professor  Wyman  be 
added  to  the  Medical  Faculty,  and  that  he  be  permitted  to 
deliver  annually  a  course  of  lectures  at  the  Medical  School  in 
Boston."  Thus  the  question  was  again  deferred,  but  not 
settled.  At  this  same  meeting  of  the  President  and  Fellows, 
Tosiah  Stickney  Lombard  was  chosen  Assistant  Professor 
of  Physiologv  in  the  Medical  School,  and  it  was  then  stipu- 
lated that  "when  an  Adjunct  Professor  is  hereafter  appointed 
his  term  of  office  shall  be  considered  as  closing  with  that  of  his 


544  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

professor."  On  January  27,  1866,  Richard  M.  Hodges  was 
chosen  Adjunct  Professor  of  Surgery ;  on  February  24,  1866, 
James  C.  White  was  chosen  Adjunct  Professor  of  Chemistry; 
and  on  May  26,  1866,  David  W.  Cheever  was  chosen  Assist- 
ant Professor  of  Anatomy.  The  examination  of  a  patient 
by  a  student  in  the  presence  of  the  Professor  or  his  Assist- 
ant, and  a  written  statement  of  the  diagnosis  of  the  case,  was 
thought  sufficient  examination  in  the  Clinical  Department. 

In  1866  the  ever-recurring  question  of  fees  was  considered 
by  the  Medical  Schools  of  Philadelphia,  New  York,  Brook- 
lyn, and  Boston,  and  it  was  mutually  agreed  that  the  fees 
should  be  raised.  At  the  Harvard  School  there  were  now 
nine  departments  in  which  instruction  was  given  during  the 
winter  term:  (1)  Anatomy  and  Physiology,  (2)  Surgery, 
(3)  Chemistry,  (4)  Theory  and  Practice  of  Physic,  (5)  Mid- 
wifery and  Medical  Jurisprudence,  (6)  Materia  Medica,  (7) 
Physiology  and  Pathology  of  the  Nervous  System.  (8)  Clin- 
ical Medicine,  and  (9)  Pathological  Anatomy.  The  aggre- 
gate fees  of  these  departments  amounted  to  ninety-five  dol- 
lars for  each  student  attending  a  full  course  of  lectures.  It 
was  voted  to  raise  the  fees  to  one  hundred  and  twenty  dol- 
lars, distributed  as  follows:  Anatomy  and  Physiology,  $18; 
Surgery  and  Clinical  Surgery,  $18;  Chemistry,  $18;  Theory 
and  Practice,  $12;  Midwifery  and  Medical  Jurisprudence, 
$12;  Materia  Medica,  $12;  Clinical  Medicine,  $12;  Physiology 
and  Pathology,  Nervous  System,  $12;  Pathological  Anat- 
omy, $6.     Total,  $120. 

On  account  of  the  continued  absence  from  the  country  of 
Brown-Scquard,  it  was  arranged  that  in  the  event  of  his  not 
returning  the  price  of  tickets  in  the  separate  departments  be 
as  follows:  Anatomy  and  Physiology,  $20;  Surgery,  $20; 
Chemistry,  $20;  Theory  and  Practice,  $15;  Midwifery  and 
Medical  Jurisprudence,  $15;  Materia  Medica,  $12;  Clinical 
Medicine,  $12;  Pathological  Anatomy,  $6.     Total,  $120. 


MEN  AND  MANNERS  545 

The  excess  of  the  new  rates  over  the  old  was  to  be  paid 
into  a  contingent  fund.  This  contingent  fund  was  to  be 
assessed  for  the  current  expenses  of  the  School  in  the  same 
way  as  the  fees  of  each  department  are  now  assessed,  and  the 
remainder,  after  this  amount  was  withdrawn,  was  to  be  di- 
vided among  the  teachers  according  to  a  vote  of  the  Faculty, 
it  being  optional  whether  the  whole  or  a  part  should  be  ap- 
propriated for  the  current  expenses.  In  the  Summer  School 
the  fees  were  fixed  at  fifty  dollars  for  those  attending  the 
Spring  term  only;  seventy-five  dollars  for  Spring  and  Sum- 
mer students ;  thirty  dollars  for  the  Autumn  students.  The 
fee  for  the  three  terms  to  be  one  hundred  dollars.  However, 
a  student  could  take  a  ticket  for  one  month,  for  which  the 
fee  was  twenty  dollars.  The  title  Assistant  in  a  Depart- 
ment was  now  changed  to  Instructor  (September  17,   1866). 

The  use  of  the  microscope  was  receiving  more  attention. 
To  supplement  the  lectures  given  by  O.  W.  Holmes,  there 
was  a  small  room  fitted  up  by  Calvin  Ellis,  where  a  separate 
laboratory  was  established.  There  the  student  might  study 
normal  and  pathological  histology  far  better  than  in  any 
other  school  in  the  country.  Ellis  was  assisted  by  Dean. 
Many  students  of  the  North  Grove  Street  School  remember 
this  little  room  in  the  basement  of  the  building  and  to  the  left 
of  the  steps  as  one  entered.  The  two  branches,  Histology  and 
Pathology,  remained  united  under  the  same  teachers  until 
about  1882.  Students  also  had  the  advantage  of  J.  C.  White's 
clinic  on  Diseases  of  the  Skin  at  the  Out-patient  Department 
of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital. 

The  organization  of  the  School  at  the  close  of  the  Civil 
War  was  as  follows : 

COURSE  OF  INSTRUCTION  FOR  THE  YEAR  1865-66. 
Lecture  Term.  Nov.   t.  1865,  to  Fed.  28,  1866. 
lectures. 
Anatomy   and   Physiology,   Professor   Holmes,   Monday.   Tuesday,   Wed- 
nesday,  Thursday   and   Friday,   at    1    o'clock. 


546  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Surgery,  Professor  Bigelow,  Monday,  Tuesday  and  Thursday,  at  n 
o'clock,  at  the  Medical  College;  Saturday  at  10  o'clock,  at  the  Massa- 
chusetts General  Hospital. 

Obstetrics,  Professor  Storer,  Monday  at  10  o'clock ;  Wednesday  and 
Friday,  at   12  o'clock. 

Pathological  Anatomy,  Professor  Jackson,  Monday  at  12  o'clock;  Tues- 
day, at  9  o'clock. 

Chemistry,  Professor  Bacon,  at  the  Massachusetts  Medical  College. 
Tuesday  and  Thursday,  at  12  o'clock. 

Materia  Medica,  Professor  Clarke,  Monday  at  9  o'clock ;  Tuesday  and 
Saturday,  at  8  o'clock. 

Clinical  Medicine,  Professors  Bowditch  and  Ellis,  at  the  Massachusetts 
General  Hospital,  Monday  and  Thursday  at  8  o'clock,  and  Tuesday  at  4 
o'clock;  at  the  Massachusetts  Medical  College,  Thursday  at  10  o'clock, 
and  Saturday  at  9  o'clock. 

Theory  and  Practice  of  Physic,  Professors  Shattuck  and  Buckingham, 
Tuesday  at  10  o'clock,  and  Wednesday  at  3^4  o'clock ;  Monday  at  4 
o'clock,  at  the  Massachusetts  Medical  College;  Monday  and  Thursday 
at  8  o'clock,  at  the  Massachusetts  General  Plospital ;  Friday,  at  10  o'clock, 
at  the  City  Hospital. 

RECITATIONS. 

Anatomy,  Dr.  D.  W.  Cheever,  Monday  and  Thursday  at  5  o'clock ; 
Wednesday  and  Friday,  at  5  o'clock,  at  the  Dissecting-room. 

Clinical  Chemistry,  Dr.  J.  C.  White,  Thursday,  at  8^4  o'clock,  at  the 
Massachusetts  General  Hospital. 

Clinical  Medicine,  Doctors  S.  L.  Abbot  and  R.  M.  Hodges,  Tuesday,  at 
4  o'clock,  at  the  Massachusetts  General  Plospital. 

Psychological  Medicine,  Dr.  J.  E.  Tyler,  Thursday,  at  ^A  o'clock. 

CLINICAL    INSTRUCTION. 

Massachusetts  General  Hospital.— Monday  and  Thursday,  at  8  o'clock; 
Wednesday   and   Saturday   at    10  o'clock.      City   Hospital. — Wednesday   at 

9  o'clock.  Ophthalmic  Clinic;  10  o'clock,  Surgical  Visit;  11  o'clock,  Opera- 
tions ;     Friday,   at  8  o'clock,   Medical   Visit ;   9   o'clock,  Medical   Lecture ; 

10  o'clock,    Surgical    Clinic.      Dispensary, — Wednesday   and    Friday,    at   9 
o'clock. 

Spring  Term,  Monday,  March  12,  to  Monday,  June  ii,  1866. 

recitations. 
Anatomy  and    Physiology,   Professor   Holmes   and   Dr.   D.   W.   Cheever, 
Tuesday  and   Friday,  at  4  o'clock;   5  o'clock,  daily,   March  and   April,   in 
the  Dissecting-room. 

Pathological  Anatomy,  Professor  Ellis.  Thursday  and  Satin  day,  at  8 
o'clock. 


MEN  AND  MANNERS  547 

Obstetrics,  Professor  Siorer  and  Dr.  H.  R.  Storer,  Monday  and  Thurs- 
day, at   12  o'clock. 

Surgery,  Professor  Bigelow  and  Dr.  R.  M.  Hodges,  Tuesday  and  Fri- 
day, at  12  o'clock. 

Theory  and  Practice  of  Physic.  Dr.  F.  Minot,  Monday  and  Thursday, 
at  9  o'clock. 

CLINICAL    INSTRUCTION. 

Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  daily,  at  9  o'clock.  City  Hospital, 
Wednesday  and  Friday,  at  9  o'clock;  Clinical  Lecture  on  Surgery,  by 
Dr.  D.  W.  Cheever,  Friday,  at  10  o'clock.  Dispensary.  Tuesday,  Wednes- 
day, and  Friday,  at  9  o'clock.  Marine  Hospital  at  Chelsea,  Wednesday 
at  9  o'clock.     Eye  and  Ear  Infirmary,  Thursday,  at   11  o'clock. 

LECTURES    AT    CAMBRIDGE. 

On    the    Mutual    Relations   of    Science,   by    President    Hill,    Tuesday,   at 

11  o'clock;  on  Botany,  by  Professor  Gray,  Tuesday  and  Thursday,  at  10 
o'clock ;  on  Natural  Philosophy,  by  Professor  Lovering,  at  No.  2  Univer- 
sity Hall,  Tuesday,  at  it  o'clock;  at  the  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology, 
by  Professor  Agassiz,  Wednesday,  at  3  o'clock,  and  Saturday  at  10 
o'clock;     Rumford    Lectures    on    Heat,    by    Professor    Gibbs,    Tuesday    at 

12  o'clock. 

"Summer  Term,  Monday,  June  n,  to  Saturday,  July  14,  1866." 

RECITATIONS. 

Theory  and  Practice,  Professors  Shattuck  and  Buckingham,  Monday 
and  Thursday,  at  9  o'clock,  at  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital ;  Tues- 
day and  Friday,  at   12  o'clock,  at  the  Medical  College. 

Chemistry,  Professor  Bacon  and  Dr.  White,  Monday  and  Thursday, 
at  12  o'clock. 

Materia  Medica,  Professors  Clarke  and  Dr.  F.  E.  Oliver,  Monday  and 
Thursday,  at  4  o'clock. 

Clinical  Medicine,  Professors  Bowditch  and  Ellis,  and  Drs.  Abbot  and 
Sinclair.   Wednesday,   at   4V2   o'clock,   and    Saturday,   at   9   o'clock. 

Clinical    Surgery,   Dr.    Hodges.   Thursday,   at    11    o'clock. 

CLINICAL   INSTRUCTION. 

Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  daily  at  9  o'clock;  City  Hospital. 
Wednesday  and  Friday,  at  9  o'clock;  Marine  Hospital,  Chelsea.  Wednes- 
day at  9  o'clock;  Eye  and  Ear  Infirmary,  Thursday,  at  11  o'clock;  Boston 
Dispensary,  luesday,  Wednesday,  and   Friday,  at  9  o'clock. 

Lectures  at  No.  2  University  Hall,  Cambridge,  on  Natural  Philosophy, 
by  Professor  Lovering,  Tuesday  and  Thursday,  at   12  o'clock. 
Autumn  Term,  September  13.  to  November  4.  1866. 

RECITATIONS. 

Anatomy  and  Physiology,  Tuesday  and  Friday,  at  4  o'clock;  Monday, 
Tuesday,  Wednesday,  Thursday,  and  Friday,  at  5  o'clock. 


548  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Theory  and  Fractice,  Monday  and  Thursday,  at  Massachusetts  General 
Hospital,  at  g  o'clock;  Tuesday  and  Friday,  at  the  Medical  College,  at 
12  o'clock. 

Chemistry,   Monday   and   Thursday,   at    12   o'clock. 

Materia   Medica,   Monday   and   Thursday,   at   4  o'clock. 

Clinical  Medicine,  Wednesday,  at  4^  P.  M.,  and  Saturday  at  0  A.  M. 

CLINICAL   INSTRUCTION. 

Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  daily,  at  9  o'clock ;  City  Hospital. 
Wednesday  and  Friday,  at  9  o'clock  ;  Marine  Flospital,  Chelsea,  Wednes- 
day, at  9  o'clock;  Eye  and  Ear  Infirmary,  Thursday  at  11  o'clock;  Boston 
Dispensary,  Tuesday,  Wednesday,  and  Friday,  at  9  o'clock ;  Prof.  Wyman, 
Anatomy,  Boylston  Hall,  Cambridge,  Tuesday  and  Thursday,  at  11  o'clock. 

Lectures  on  Microscope,  by  Professor  Holmes." 

The  Massachusetts  Eye  and  Ear  Infirmary  and  the  United 
States  Marine  Hospital  at  Chelsea  were  both  open  to'  stu- 
dents in  Medicine.  Six  house  pupils  at  the  Massachusetts 
General,  and  five  at  the  City  Hospital  were  appointed  an- 
nually. 

On  March  13,  1867.  the  title  of  the  "Professorship  of  the 
Physiology  and  Pathology  of  the  Nervous  System"  was 
altered  to  "Professorship  of  Physiology  and  Pathology".  On 
August  31,  1867,  Henry  I.  Bowditch  resigned  the  Jackson 
Professorship  of  Clinical  Medicine,  and  on  September  28th 
Calvin  Ellis  was  chosen  to  fill  the  vacancy.  Other  Faculty 
changes  at  this  period  were  the  resignation  of  Brown-Sequard 
December  28,  1867 ;  the  resignation  of  D.  W.  Cheever  as 
Assistant  Professor  of  Anatomy  (January  5,  1868)  and  his 
appointment  as  Adjunct  Professor  of  Clinical  Surgery;  the 
resignation  of  D.  H.  Storer  as  Professor  of  Obstetrics  (July 
15,  1868);  the  election  of  Charles  E.  Buckingham  as  Pro- 
fessor of  Obstetrics  and  Medical  Jurisprudence;  and  the  ap- 
pointment, October  27.  1868,  of  the  following'  University  Lec- 
turers:* On  Opthahnology,  Henry  W.  Williams,  reappoint- 
ment  1866-71 ;  on   Hygiene,    George    Derby,    reappointment 

*  University  Lectures   had   been   reestablished   January   31,   1863. 


MEN  AND  MANNERS  .r,49 

1867-71;  on  Tumors,  Algernon  Coolidge;  on  Psychological 
Medicine  and  Jurisprudence,  John  E.  Tyler,  reappointment 
1866-71. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Corporation  November  21,  1868,  the 
following  appointments  were  made  :*  Francis  Minot,  In- 
structor in  Theory  and  Practice;  J.  Nelson  Borland,  Instruc- 
tor in  Clinical  Medicine ;  John  P.  Reynolds,  Instructor  in  Ob- 
stetrics and  Medical  Jurisprudence;  Fitch  E.  Oliver,  Instruc- 
tor in  Materia  Medica ;  Algernon  Coolidge,  Instructor  in 
Pathological  Anatomy. 

On  February  27,  1869,  George  C.  Shattuck  resigned  the 
Deanship,  and  Calvin  Ellis  was  established  as  his  successor. 

These  various  changes  resulted  in  the  following  teaching 
corps  of  1869:  Calvin  Ellis,  Dean,  Professor  of  Clinical 
Medicine;  J.  B.  S.  Jackson,  Shattuck  Professor  of  Morbid 
Anatomy;  O.  W.  Holmes,  Parkman  Professor  of  Anatomy 
and  Physiology ;  George  C.  Shattuck,  Hersey  Professor  of 
Theory  and  Practice;  Jeffries  Wyman,  Hersey  Professor  of 
Anatomy;  H.  J.  Bigelow,  Professor  of  Surgery;  John  Bacon, 
Professor  of  Chemistry;  Chas.  E.  Buckingham,  Professor  of 
Obstetrics  and  Medical  Jurisprudence ;  E.  H.  Clarke,  Profes- 
sor of  Materia  Medica ;  R.  M.  Hodges,  Adjunct  Professor  of 
Surgery;  James  C.  White,  Adjunct  Professor  of  Chemistry; 
David  W.  Cheever,  Adjunct  Professor  of  Clinical  Surgery; 
Josiah  Stickney  Lombard,  Assistant  Professor  of  Physiology. 
Instructors:  John  P.  Reynolds,  in  Obstetrics  and  Medical 
Jurisprudence;  Fitch  E.  Oliver,  in  Materia  Medica;  Francis 
Minot,  in  Theory  and  Practice;  J.  Nelson  Borland,  in  Clinical 
Medicine;  Charles  B.  Porter,  Demonstrator  of  Anatomy: 
Henry  H.  A.  Beach,  Assistant  Demonstrator  of  Anatomy. 

From  such  a  list  it  may  be  seen  that  the  School  had  reached 
a  considerable  size.     In  fact,  the  point  frequently  was  raised, 

*  The  Quinquennial  dates  refer  to  Overseers'  confirmations  of  appoint- 
ments. 


550  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

at  the  meeting's  of  the  Faculty,  whether  the  number  of  lec- 
tures had  not  already  gone  beyond  the  capacity  of  any  one 
student.  It  was  a  vexed  question  whether  an  alteration  in 
the  time  of  beginning  the  lectures  or  in  the  length  of  the  term 
was  the  more  feasible.  Two  committees  were  appointed,  one 
to  consider  the  question  of  a  new  building,  and  the  other  the 
course  of  studies.  Upon  the  recommendation  of  the  latter 
committee  it  was  voted  (March  22,  1867)  that  the  Faculty 
deem  it  expedient  to  omit  a  part  of  the  regular  subjects  of  the 
winter  course,  and  teach  them  in  the  summer  instead ;  that 
it  is  inexpedient  to  lengthen  the  winter  course ;  that  no  teach- 
ing from  text  books  or  by  recitation  shall  be  given  at  the 
hospital,  nor,  in  fact,  any  other  instruction  than  that  grow- 
ing out  of  cases  under  observation;  that  no  special  charges 
shall  be  made  for  special  courses  by  those  already  belonging 
to  the  Faculty,  the  department  of  Chemistry  excepted;  that 
the  present  fees  be  not  increased ;  that  the  graduate's  fees 
be  increased  to  thirty  dollars ;  that  the  matriculation  fee  be  in- 
creased to  five  dollars ;  that  the  winter  exercises  shall  begin  at 
8  A.  M.  and  end  at  8  P.  M.,  divided  as  follows:  8  A.  M.  to 
2  P.  M. ;  3  130  P.  M.  to  6  P.  M. ;  7  P.  M.  to  8  P.  M. ;  that 
twenty  morning  hours  during  each  week  be  assigned  to  Col- 
lege lectures,  fifteen  morning  hours  to  hospital  and  clinical 
instruction,  and  eight  hours  to  college  exercises,  thus :  In  the 
morning:  Anatomy  and  Physiology,  five  hours;  Physiology 
and  Pathology,  two  hours;  Surgery,  three  hours;  Clinical 
Surgery,  one  hour;  Materia  Medica,  three  hours;  Chemistry, 
two  hours;  Obstetrics,  three  hours:  Pathological  Anatomy, 
one  hour;  and  in  the  afternoon:  Pathological  Anatomy,  one 
hour;  Theory  and  Practice,  four  hours;  Clinical  Medicine, 
three  hours.  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  Medicine  two 
hours,  Surgery  four  hours.  City  Hospital,  Medicine  three 
hours;  Surgery,  four  hours. 

It  was  not  thought  necessary  to  increase  the  number  of  the 


MEN  AND  MANNERS  551 

Faculty.  The  Summer  School  was  divided :  Anatomy  and 
Physiology,  Holmes,  Cheever  and  Porter;  Physiology  and 
Pathology,  Brown-Sequard ;  Surgery  and  Clinical  Surgery, 
Bigelow  and  Hodges ;  Chemistry,  Bacon  and  White ;  Theory 
and  Practice,  Shattuck,  Buckingham,  Tyler  and  Minot;  Ob- 
stetrics, Storer  and  Abbot;  Pathological  Anatomy,  J.  B.  S. 
Jackson  and  Ellis;  Materia  Medica,  Clarke  and  F.  E.  Oliver; 
Comparative  Anatomy,  J.  Wyman ;  Clinical  Medicine,  Bow- 
ditch,  Ellis,  White,  Minot,  Abbot,  Borland,  Reynolds  and  H. 
K.  Oliver;  Ophthalmology,  Williams. 

The  proceeds  of  the  Summer  School  were  to  be  divided 
among  the  departments  enumerated,  in  which  any  instruction 
was  given. 

The  trustees  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital  con- 
sidered the  advisability  of  charging  each  student  attending 
the  hospital  a  fee  of  five  dollars.  This  the  Faculty  deemed 
unwise,  and  their  view  prevailed.  It  soon  became  evident  that 
if  the  teaching  corps  was  to  go  on  increasing  in  number,  the 
management  of  the  school  must  be  separated  from  the  teach- 
ing Faculty.  This  led  to  the  request  that  the  President  and 
Fellows  so  modify  the  existing  statutes  of  the  School  as  to 
provide  an  executive  Faculty  to  consist  of  the  professors  in 
the  following  departments :  Anatomy,  Chemistry,  Theory 
and  Practice,  Materia  Medica,  Obstetrics,  Pathological  Anat- 
omy ;  it  being  understood  that  the  existing  Faculty  should 
not  be  disturbed.  This  led  to  the  adoption  of  the  following 
statutes : 

Statutes  ok  the  Medical  School. 
"  The  government  of  the  Medical  School  shall  be  administered  by 
an  Executive  Faculty,  consisting  of  the  President  of  the  University  and 
the  Professors  now  members  of  the  Faculty  of  the  School :  but  as  the 
present  incumbents  cease  to  hold  office,  the  number  of  members  shall  be 
reduced  to  eight,  and  those  members,  (excepting  the  President,  who  shall 
be  a  member  ex  officio,)  shall  all  be  Professors  in  the  Medical  School, 
designated  for  that  purpose  by  the  Corporation.     The   Executive   Faculty 


552  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

shall  have  a  Dean  elected  by  themselves  for  such  periods  as  may  be  deter- 
mined with  the  consent  of  the  Corporation,  and  may  also  adopt  rules  for 
their  own  government  and  for  that  of  the  School,  provided  the  same  do 
not  contravene  the  laws  of  the  University. 

"The  Professors,  Adjunct  Professors,  Special  Professors,  Assistant 
Professors,  and  Instructors  for  the  time  being,  shall  constitute  the  Faculty 
of  Instruction,  which  shall  be  charged  with  the  instruction  of  the 
students,  under  the  direction  of  the  Executive  Faculty. 

"The  Instructors  shall  be  appointed  annually,  in  September;  the 
Adjunct  Professors  shall  hold  office  during  the  term  of  the  Professor  to 
whom  they  are  severally  attached.  The  Special  Professors  and  Assistant 
Professors  shall  hold  office  for  five  years.  The  Professors  shall  alone  be 
eligible  to  the  Executive  F?.culty. 

"  Students  of  Medicine  designing  to  attend  the  medical  lectures,  or 
any  of  them,  shall  be  matriculated  in  the  University,  by  entering  their 
names  with  the  Dean  of  the  Executive  Faculty,  to  be  enrolled  by  him, 
and  by  signing  an  obligation  to  submit  to  the  laws  of  the  University,  and 
to  the  direction  of  the  Faculty  of  Medicine. 

"  There  shall  be  holden  by  the  Executive  Faculty  two  meetings  in 
each  year,  for  the  purpose  of  examining  candidates  for  the  degree  of 
Doctor  in  Medicine.  These  shall  be  holden  in  the  Massachusetts  Medical 
College,  unless  otherwise  specially  ordered.  They  may  be  continued  by 
adjournment  by  vote  of  the  members  present,  and  if  only  one  member 
attend  at  the  time  and  place  designated,  he  may  adjourn  the  meeting  from 
day  to  day  till  three  members  of  this  Faculty  attend  the  meeting.  Three 
members  of  this  Faculty  must  be  present  at  every  examination.  The  first 
meeting  for  examination  shall  be  held  on  the  day  next  succeeding  that 
on  which  the  winter  session  ends ;  the  second  on  the  Monday  next  but 
one  preceeding  the  Commencement  in  July.  In  extraordinary  cases  the 
Faculty   may   hold   meetings   for  examination  at   other   times. 

"  Every  candidate  for  the  Degree  of  Doctor  in  Medicine  must  comply 
with  the  following  conditions  before  being  admitted  to  examination  : 

"  I.  He  shall  satisfy  the  Executive  Faculty  that  he  is  of  good  moral 
character,  and  has  arrived  at  the  age  of  twenty-one. 

"  2.  He  shall  have  attended  two  courses  of  lectures  delivered  at  the 
Massachusetts  Medical  College  by  each  of  the  Professors  of  the  depart- 
ments of  Anatomy,  Physiology,  Chemistry,  Materia  Medica  and  Pharmacy, 
Morbid  Anatomy,  Midwifery,  Surgery  and  Clinical  Surgery,  Clinical  Med- 
icine, and  the  theory  and  practice  of  Medicine ;  but  if  he  shall  have 
attended  a  similar  course  in  any  other  College  or  University,  approved 
by  the  Executive  Faculty,  the  same  may  be  accepted  in  lieu  of  one  of  the 
courses  above  required. 

"  3.  He  shall  have  employed  three  years  in  his  professional  studies 
under  the  direction  of  a  regular  practitioner  of  medicine. 


MEN  AND  MANNERS  553 

"4.  If  he  has  not  received  a  University  education,  he  shall  satisfy  the 
Executive  Faculty  in  respect  to  his  knowledge  of  the  Latin  language  and 
Experimental  Philosophy. 

"  5.  He  shall  have  given  notice  of  his  intention  to  the  Dean  of  the 
Executive  Faculty  four  weeks  previous  to  the  day  on  which  he  presents 
himself  for  examination,  and  at  the  same  time  shall  have  delivered  or 
transmitted  to  the  Dean  a  dissertation,  written  by  himself,  on  some  subject 
connected  with  medicine.  Every  dissertation  shall  be  submitted  by  the 
Dean  to  the  examination  of  the  Executive  Faculty,  in  the  mode  which  they 
shall  point  out. 

"  At  the  meeting  for  examination  the  Executive  Faculty,  with  the 
aid  of  such  of  the  other  Professors,  and  of  such  adjunct  Professors  as 
they  may  select,  shall  examine  all  candidates  who  have  complied  with  the 
foregoing  conditions,  in  the  nine  departments  following,  viz. :  Anatomy, 
Physiology,  Chemistry,  Materia  Medica  and  Pharmacy,  Morbid  Anatomy, 
Mid\vifer>r,  Surgery  and  Clinical  Surgery,  Clinical  Medicine,  and  the 
Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine.  The  examiners  shall  make  report  in 
writing  to  the  Executive  Faculty. 

"  To  secure  a  recommendation  to  a  degree,  the  candidate  must  pass 
a  satisfactory  examination  in  at  least  five  of  the  nine  departments,  and 
have  presented  a  satisfactory  dissertation. 

'  The  decision  in  respect  to  each  candidate  shall  be  made  by  vote  of 
the  Executive  Faculty,  and,  if  favorable  to  the  candidate,  shall  be  recorded 
by  the  Dean,  and  by  him  certified  to  the  President,  to  be  laid  before  the 
Corporation  and  the  Overseers. 

"  Those  candidates  who  have  at  the  Spring  examination  received  from 
the  Corporation  and  Overseers  the  final  approbation,  shall  be  admitted 
to  the  degree  of  Doctor  in  Medicine  by  the  President  of  the  University, 
at  a  public  Commencement  holden  on  the  Wednesday  next  succeeding 
the  day  of  examination,  on  which  occasion  an  address  shall  be  delivered 
by  some  one  selected  for  the  purpose  by  the  Executive  Faculty.  Those 
who  may  be  approved  at  the  summer  examination  will  receive  their 
degrees  and  diplomas  in  Cambridge  on  Commencement  Day.  Public  invi- 
tation to  attend  the  ceremony  at  the  Commencement  immediately  follow- 
ing the  Lectures,  shall  be  given  by  the  Dean  of  the  Executive  Faculty  to 
the  Fellows  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society,  to  all  Medical  Students 
and  to  every  person  who  may  take  an  interest  in  Medical  Science." 

"  By-Laws  of  the  Medical  Faculty. 

"Article  1.  Stated  Meetings  of  the  Faculty.  A  staled  meeting  shall 
be  held  on  the  third  Monday  of  September  and  on  the  first  Monday  in 
each  month  from  October  to  March,  inclusive.  Other  meetings  may  be 
called  by  the  Dean. 

"Article  2.     Quorum.     A   majority   shall  constitute  a   quorum.     A   <!<• 


554  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

partment  may  be  represented  by  a  Professor  or  bis  Adjunct,  but  in  all 
cases  each  department  shall  have  but  one  vote. 

"Article  3.  Order  of  Business.  1.  Reading  of  Records.  2.  Reading 
memorandum  of  business.  3.  Reports  of  Committees.  4.  Incidental 
business. 

"  Article  4.  Standing  Committees.  There  shall  be  a  Standing  Com- 
mittee of:  1.  Finance.  2.  Reception  on  Public  Days.  3.  Announce- 
ments and  Catalogues.  4.  Winter  and  Summer  Programme  of  Instruc- 
tion.    5.      Building.     6.     Entertainments.     7.     Library. 

"  Article  5.  Dean.  The  Dean  shall  be  elected  annually  at  the  stated 
meeting  in  February.  He  shall  act  as  Secretary  of  the  Faculty,  notify 
its  meetings,  and  keep  a  record  of  its  proceedings  in  a  fair  and  ligible 
handwriting.  He  shall  read  and  lay  upon  the  table,  at  each  meeting,  a  list 
of  the  items  of  business  to  be  attended  to  at  that  meeting,  and  he  shall 
also  keep  and  have  at  each  meeting  a  book,  exclusively  devoted  to  the 
purpose,  containing  a  record  of  standing  votes,  so  designated  when 
passed,  and  a  list  of  the  members  of  all  Standing  Committees.  The  Dean 
shall  be  ready  to  receive  students  desiring  to  join  the  School  and  shall 
answer  letters  of  inquiry.  He  shall  receive  the  Theses,  and  enter  in  a 
book  kept  for  that  purpose,  the  names  of  candidates  for  degrees,  examine 
their  credentials,  and  keep  on  file  the  certificates  of  their  periods  of  study. 
With  these  certificates  he  shall  also  collect  the  graduation  fee.  He  shall 
see  that  the  Diplomas  are  printed,  filled  out  and  signed,  and  delivered 
to  the  President  of  the  University,  before  the  day  of  commencement.  The 
Dean  shall  receive  from  students,  to  be  refunded,  the  sum  required  to  be 
deposited  before  using  the  Library. 

"Article  6.  Chairman.  A  Chairman  shall  be  elected  annually,  at  the 
stated  meeting  in  February,  to  preside  over  the  meetings  of  the  Faculty. 

"  Article  7.  Professors.  Each  Professor  shall  have  sole  charge  of  his 
own  department  of  instruction,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Faculty. 
He  shall  confine  his  lectures  to  his  own  subject,  except  by  the  special 
consent  both  of  the  Professor  of  any  department  interested,  and  of  the 
Faculty.  His  lectures  shall  be  delivered  only  at  such  hours  and  places 
as  are  specified  by  the  Faculty.  Each  Professor  shall  make  an  annual 
report  to  the  Committee  for  visiting  the  Medical  School,  and  also,  in 
writing,  to  the  Faculty,  at  the  close  of  the  Lecture  season. 

"Article  8.  Adjunct  Professors.  Adjunct  Professors  shall  hold  office 
only  so  long  as  the  Professor  of  the  department  with  which  they  are 
connected,  and  shall  perform  such  duties  as  that  Professor  shall  request. 

"  Article  9.  Special  Professors.  Special  Professors  shall  hold  office 
for  five  (5)  years  only.  They  shall  not  give  instruction  except  in  their 
own  special  branches,  and  with  the  concurrence  of  the  Professors  of  the 
departments  to  which  their  specialties  belong.  They  shall  lecture  only  at 
such  times  and  in  such  places  as  the  Faculty  may  direct. 


MEN  AND  MANNERS  555 

"'  Article  10.  Assistant  Professors.  Assistant  Professors  shall  hold 
office  for  five  (5)  years  only,  and  are  to  be  appointed  at  the  instance  of 
the  Professors  of  the  departments  with  which  they  are  to  be  connected. 
They  shall  perform,  with  the  approval  of  the  Faculty,  such  duties  as  the 
Professors  of  their  departments  may  indicate. 

"Article  11.  Instructors.  Instructors  shall  be  nominated  annually  at 
the  stated  meeting  in  (September-February)  at  the  suggestion  of  the  Pro- 
fessors of  the  departments  interested.  There  shall  not  be  more  than  one 
Instructor  in  each  department  of  instruction.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  In- 
structors to  hear  recitations. 

"  Article  12.  University  Lecturers.  University  Lecturers  shall  hold 
office  for  one  (1)  year  only.  They  shall  be  nominated  only  by  the  Pro- 
fessor of  the  department  most  interested,  and  at  the  stated  meetings  in 
October  and  February. 

"  Article  13.  Nominations.  The  nomination  of  no  officer  of  instruction 
shall  be  acted  upon  except  at  a  stated  meeting  of  the  Executive  Faculty, 
or  at  one  called  for  such  purpose  and  notified  as  such. 

"Article  14.  Other  Instruction.  No  officer  of  instruction  shall  take 
pupils  for  private  medical  instruction,  nor  participate  in,  organize,  or 
countenance  any  medical  instruction  which  has  not  received  the  formal 
approval  of  the  Faculty  at  one  of  the  two  stated  meetings  held  in  October 
and  February. 

"Article  15.  Qualification  for  Degrees.  No  part  of  the  time  spent  in 
the  Academicle  department  of  a  college  shall  be  allowed  to  count  as  time 
spent  in  the  study  of  Medicine. 

"  Article  16.  Details  of  Examinations.  3.  A  list  of  Candidates  shall 
be  furnished  to  each  Professor,  who  shall  mark  each  candidate  according 
to  a  scale  of  8, — 8  being  the  mark  of  excellence ;  and  no  candidate  shall 
receive  an  affirmative  vote  who  has  not  received  at  least  four  marks. 
5.  Ten  minutes  shall  be  allowed  to  each  Professor  for  the  examination 
of  each  candidate;  questions  may  be  asked  on  the  dissertation  during  this 
period.  7.  (Statute.)  The  decision  in  respect  to  each  candidate  shall 
be  determined  by  the  vote  of  the  major  part  of  the  members  of  the  Execu- 
tive Faculty.  8.  No  affirmative  vote  shall  be  reconsidered  except  on  the 
demand  of  three  Professors.  9.  A  vote  in  the  negative  may  be  recon- 
sidered on  the  motion  of  any  Professor.  It  is  very  desirable  that  each 
Professor  should  vote  independently, — YEA  or  NAY — the  object  of  a 
ballot  being  to  elicit  and  to  express  a  collective  and  averaged  opinion. 
Yet  if  any  Professor  cannot  make  up  his  mind  without  knowing  how  his 
colleagues  have  made  up  theirs  he  has  a  right,  either  or  both —  1.  To 
withhold  his  vote.  2.  To  avail  himself  of  either  of  the  above  Rules  8 
and  9. 

"Article   17.     Change  of  By-Laws.     No  clause  of  these   By-Laws  shall 


556  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

be  altered  or  suspended,  except  at  a  meeting  succeeding  that  on   which 
notice  of  such  proposed  suspension  or  alteration  has  been  announced. 

Article  iS.     All   By-Laws  or  Regulations  previously  existing  inconsist- 
ent with  this  Code  are  hereby  annulled. 
"Passed  20th  May,  1868.  "  Geo-  C  Shattuck.  Dean." 

The  committee"  appointed  to  consider  the  need  of  new 
building  for  the  Medical  School  reported  in  December,  1866. 
Their  report  relates  in  detail  the  shortcomings  of  the  exist- 
ing site  on  account  of  the  unwillingness  of  the  Parkman  heirs 
to  sell  land  adjoining  the  school  building.  The  advisability 
of  applying  to  the  Legislature  for  a  lot  of  land  near  the 
Technology  Institute  seemed  to  meet  the  views  of  a  majority 
of  the  Faculty.  Finally,  a  committee  consisting  of  H.  J. 
Bigelow,  Holmes,  and  Shattuck  was  appointed  to  raise  funds. 
Some  idea  of  the  necessity  for  this  building  on  a  new  site 
can  be  seen  from  the  fact  that  the  capacity  of  the  surgical 
lecture  room  was  263,  and  the  medical  lecture  room  384,  in- 
cluding the  additional  seats  lately  placed  in  the  clinical  room. 
The  attendance  at  the  School  was  216  in  1865;  301  in  1866; 
386  in  1867;  308  in  1868;  and  306  in  1869.  The  fees 
were:  Matriculation  $5.  For  a  whole  year's  instruction 
$200;  for  a  winter  term  $120;  for  a  spring  term  and  sum- 
mer term  $100;  graduation  $20;  Dissecting  Room  $5. 

The  winter  term  extended  from  the  first  Wednesday  in 
November  for  seventeen  weeks.  Then  there  was  a  recess  of 
ten  days,  during  which  were  held  examinations  for  the  De- 
gree, and  a  Commencement  for  conferring  Degrees.  Instruc- 
tion was  then  resumed,  and  was  continued  till  the  middle  of 
July,  at  which  time  there  was  a  vacation  of  eight  weeks,  dur- 
ing which  there  were  hospital  visits.  Recitations  were  then 
resumed,  and  continued  until  November  first.  A  second  ex- 
amination for  the  Degree  was  held  in  July,  in  time  for  the 
College  Commencement. 

*  Clarke,   Bowditch.   and   White. 


MEN  AND  MANNERS  557 

The  establishment  of  a  Dental  School  in  connection  with 
the  University  was  advocated  by  the  Medical  Faculty  as  early 
as  1867.  This  request  was  granted  by  the  Corporation  July 
17,  1867,  when  it  was  voted  to  establish  a  Dental  School  in 
the  University.  The  relationship  of  these  two  Schools  of 
Medicine  and  Dentistry  will  be  considered  later. 

A  new  era  was  about  to  begin  both  at  the  College  and 
at  the  Medical  School, — an  era  compared  with  which,  for 
growth,  prosperity,  and  advancement,  all  previous  periods 
were  insignificant.  Coming  events  had  been  foreshadowed 
in  the  report  of  President  Hill  for  the  year  1862-63.  He 
said : 

"  Our  country  produces  men  of  as  fine  natural  talent  for  every  depart- 
ment of  learning  and  science  as  can  be  found  among  any  people.  But 
that  talent  almost  never  attains  any  high  degree  of  culture,  without  being 
transplanted  to  Europe  for  a  few  years.  It  is  now  time  that  we  should 
begin  to  develop  among  ourselves  the  learning  and  science  which  we  dif- 
fuse among  our  people  and  apply  to  the  arts  of  life.  It  is  time  that  we 
should  have  in  our  country  at  least  one  institution  thoroughly  organized 
and  amply  endowed,  at  which  it  may  be  a  principal  aim  to  carry  those 
students  who  have  the  highest  taients  to  the  highest  degree  of  cultu.e; 
and  also  through  its  teachers,  its  pupils  and  graduates,  to  extend  the 
domain  cf  science  and  increase  the  fruits  of  learning.  The  most  able  of 
our  young  graduates,  and  (he  most  studious  of  our  younger  instructors, 
now  feel  compelled  to  go  in  person  to  the  universities  of  Europe  for  the 
learning  and  science  which  they  expound,  or  which  they  are  to  apply  to 
practice  hereafter.  This  dependency  upon  the  older  countries  was  honor- 
able and  beneficial  in  our  childhood,  but  becomes  disgraceful  and  injurious 
in  our  manhood." 

President  Hill  resigned  on  September  30,  1868,  and  the 
College  remained  without  a  president  until  the  election  of 
Charles  W.  Eliot,  May  19,  1869.  The  report  of  the  acting 
president*  for  this  year  refers  to  the  Medical  School  thus : 

'  The  school  has  never  occupied  a  higher  position  absolutely  or  rela- 
tively than  at  this  moment.     But  its  extended  reputation  is  in  its  present 

*  Andrew  Preston  Peabody. 


558  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

condition,  a  source  of  embarrassment ;  for  its  classes  are  outgrowing  the 
capacity  of  the  lecture  rooms,  which  have  already  been  twice  enlarged. 
There  are  no  proper  laboratories  for  scientific  and  practical  study  and  it 
is  impossible  either  to  construct  such  apparatus  within  the  present  walls, 
or  to  obtain  additional  land  in  the  immediate  vacinity  for  their  extension." 

We  have  now  brought  the  history  of  the  Medical  School 
from  its  modest  beginnings  down  to  the  point  where  that  insti- 
tution was  represented  by  a  substantial  structure  requiring  the 
active  cooperation  of  more  than  twenty  teachers  for  its  three 
hundred  or  more  students.  The  widely  agitated  question  of 
reform  in  medical  education,  already  too  long  deferred,  was 
becoming  increasingly  urgent.  Harvard  would  make  the  trial. 
With  a  wise  and  fearless  leader  success  might  be  expected. 
While  there  were  honest  misgivings  among  many  within  his 
own  council,  against  the  opposition  of  conservatism,  and  with 
no  precedent  to  guide  him.  President  Eliot  won  the  tentative 
support  of  a  bare  majority  of  the  Faculty.  In  the  Faculty  the 
President  was  fortunate  in  having  a  Dean  willing  to  cooperate 
with  him.  Together  with  President  Eliot,  Calvin  Ellis  de- 
serves a  large  share  of  credit  for  the  reformation  of  medical 
teaching  in  this  country,  begun  at  the  Harvard  Medical  School 
in  1870. 

In  the  remaining  chapters  of  our  story,  men  and  things 
will  be  viewed  in  a  perspective  different  from  that  followed 
in  the  previous  pages.  Even  in  a  history,  it  is  difficult 
to  deal  impartially  with  the  living.  If  in  his  endeavor  to 
tell  fairly  the  story  of  the  Harvard  School  the  writer  should 
seem  to  be  over  critical  at  times,  it  will  be  only  because 
he  is  striving  for  the  frank  narration  of  facts.  He  is  never 
forgetful  of  the  laborious  and  faithful  lives  of  Harvard's 
great  medical  teachers,  living  and  dead.  While  the  Harvard 
School  flourishes,  let  us  believe  the  names  of  Cheever,  White, 
H.  P.  Bowditch,  C.  J.  Blake,  Draper,  C.  B.  Porter,  Williams, 
J.  O.  Green,  J.  Collins  Warren,  Fitz,  Dwight,  Putnam,  Baker, 
Knight,  Wadsworth.  Fdes,  Wood,  F.  C.  Shattuck,  Bradford, 


MEN  AND  MANNERS  559 

Rotch,  Minot,  Councilman,  W.  L.  Richardson,  M.  H.  Rich- 
ardson, Burrell,  Ernst  and  Smith  (I  mention  full  professors 
only)  will  be  as  intimately  associated  with  the  history  of  her 
Medical  School  as  are  those  of  John  Warren,  John  C.  Warren, 
Wraterhouse,  Dexter,  Jackson,  Ware,  Bigelow,  Gorham,  Hay- 
ward,  Holmes,  Wyman,  Ellis,  Storer,  Channing,  Clarke,  Rey- 
nolds, Buckingham  and  Bacon. 

So  let  us  pass  on  (in  volume  III)  to  the  tale  of  events 
which  gives  the  generation  of  living  men  a  claim  to  our  grate- 
ful recognition. 


APPENDIX,  CHAPTER  XXII. 

JACKSON   FUND. 

"  Original    terms    of    Subscription    to    the   Jackson    Fund. 

"  Upon  a  representation  that  the  Medical  Faculty  of  Harvard  University 
have  incurred  a  debt  or  are  under  a  liability  to  pay  to  that  Corporation 
an  amount  of  money  about  $16,000  which  was  necessarily  expended  upon 
the  building  in  Grove  St.  in  the  city  of  Boston  which  is  used  by  said 
Faculty  for  the  delivery  of  their  Lectures  to  Medical  Students — that  the 
members  of  said  Faculty  have  for  a  long  time  past  devoted  and  yet  apply 
their  time,  learning  and  skill  to  the  advancement  of  the  department  of 
science  in  said  College  almost  gratuitously  for  the  establishment  of  a 
Medical  School,  which  if  it  does  not  surpass,  should  at  least  equal  similar 
institutions  of  other  colleges  in  the  United  States,  and  offer  as  strong 
inducements   to   students   seeking   instruction. 

"  We  the  Subscribers  agree  to  pay  to  the  Medical  Faculty,  or  to  a 
commiltee  appointed  by  that  body,  the  several  sums  of  money  set  against 
our  respective  names  to  relieve  said  Faculty  or  its  members  from  the 
pecuniary  and  professional  burdens  they  are  under  for  the  erection  and 
maintenance  of  said  School  to  this  time,  and  to  provide  in  part  the  means 
of  preserving  the  said  building  in  a  proper  state  of  repair,  and  of  defray- 
ing such  current  expenses  and  of  furnishing  such  equipment  as  shall  be 
requisite  to  place  said  School   in  the  most   favorable  condition. 

"We  however  stipulate  as  the  conditions  upon  which  we  give  this  aid — 

"  1st.  That  said  obligations  incurred  by  the  members  of  the  Faculty 
shall  be  satisfied  and  cancelled. 

"2.  That  any  balance  remaining  shall  be  invested  at  interest,  cither 
with  the  funds  of  the  Corporation  of  Harvard   College  by   the  Treasurer 


560  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

or  in  such  other  manner  as  the  Medical  Faculty  hy  a  vote  of  a  majority 
shall  decide  to  be  more  expedient. 

"  3.  That  the  income  and  produce  of  the  sums  so  invested  shall  from 
time  to  time  as  it  is  received  be  subject  to  and  be  paid  upon  the  order 
of  said  Faculty. 

''  4.  That  said  Faculty  for  the  time  being,  shall  with  fidelity  apply  such 
income  to  the  support  of  said  School  and  use  their  best  endeavors  to 
prevent  its  diversion  to  any  other  purpose  or  object. 

"  Wm.    Sturgis     $5000. 

*' Jno.   P.   dishing  by  Wm.    Sturgis   Atty 5000. 

"  Thomas    Lee    5000. 

"  Jonathan    Phillips    5000. 

"  Nathl   Thayer    5000. 

"  Robert  M.  Mason  for  S    E.  Mason 2500. 

"  N.   I.    Bowditch    for   Miss    Bowditch 2500. 

"  Josiah    Quincy    500. 

"  Mary     Pratt     1000. 

"  H.  H.  Hunnewell    500. 

"  Moses    Williams    500. 

"  Mary    Wigglesworth    500. 

"John   T.   Heard    (D.   H.    Storer) 100. 

"  Henry  Cabot  (O.   W.  Holmes) 100. 

"Henry    Lee  "      "        "  100. 

"Gardner    Brewer       "      "        "  100." 

(The  original  manuscript  is  deposited  with  the  Treasurer  of  Harvard 
College.) 

PARKMAN    DONATION. 

1846.  Extract  from  letter  of  Medical  Faculty  to  Corporation,  Feb.  22,  1846. 
"  Through  the  liberality  of  Dr.  George  Parkman,  the  Faculty  have 
received  the  offer  of  a  donation  of  a  lot  of  land,  principally  flats  measuring 
100  feet  by  60,  with  provision  for  light  and  air,  situated  near  the  north 
end  of  Grove  Street  and  fronting  the  estate  of  the  Massachusetts  General 
Hospital,  to  be  appropriated  for  the  site  of  a  new  Medical  College.  The 
Faculty  are  of  opinion,  that  if  the  donation  be  accepted  by  the  Corpora- 
tion and  the  estate  belonging  to  the  Corporation  in  Mason  Street,  be  sold, 
the  balance  of  money  necessary  to  complete  the  new  building  might  be 
provided  for  without  expense  to  the  University." 

1847. 
"  Subscriptions  for  new  building — (North  Grove  Street)  : 

"  Nathaniel    Appleton    100 

"  Samuel    Appleton     500 

"  William     Appleton     500 

"  Martin    Bremmer    100 


MEN  AND  MANNERS  561 

"  Francis  C.  Gray   200 

"John   C.   Gray    100 

"  Abbott    Lawrence     500 

"  William    Lawrence     100 

"  Thomas    Lee     100 

"  Francis    C.    Lowell     100 

'  John   A.   Lowell    500 

"  Charles   Lyman    ioo 

"  Thomas   H.    Perkins    500 

"  David   Sears    500 

"  George  C.  Shattuck  500 

"  Thomas  A.    Wales    200 

"  $4600  " 


CLINICAL  ADVANTAGES  AT  HARVARD. 


00 


< 

H 

CO 
O 

K 

W 

w 

O 

co 
H 

H 
W 

CO 

B 
u 

< 

co 
co 

< 


CLINICAL  ADVANTAGES  AT  HARVARD      565 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

CLINICAL  ADVANTAGES   AT   HARVARD. 

Harvard  has  never  owned  and  properly  controlled  a  hospital. 
That  has  always  been  a  regret,  and  at  times  a  disadvantage. 
The  disadvantage  has  been  twofold.  First,  there  is  the  well 
recognized  necessity  which  all  medical  schools  feel  for  clin- 
ical facilities.  This  necessity  was  early  recognized  by  the 
government  of  Harvard  College,  when  in  1784  they  peti- 
tioned the  Overseers  of  the  Poor  of  Boston  to>  allow  the  med- 
ical teachers  to  care  for  the  sick  in  the  Boston  Alms  House. 
From  the  time  (1810)  when  this  request  was  granted  down 
to  the  present,  the  Medical  School  has  never  wanted  for  clin- 
ical material.  There  is  a  second  phase  of  the  question;  as 
one  follows  the  development  of  the  school, — and  this  holds 
true  of  the  other  medical  schools  in  this  country  with  two  or 
three  notable  exceptions, — one  is  impressed  with  the  fact  that 
vacancies  in  clinical  professorships  and  lectureships  are  filled 
from  the  ranks  of  those  who  have  succeeded  in  obtaining  hos- 
pital, dispensary  and  asylum  appointments.  Those  institutions 
are  managed  by  independent  trustees,  often  by  boards  without 
a  single  representative  of  the  medical  profession.  They  select 
their  staffs  without  regard  to  the  teaching  abilities  of  the  can- 
di dates.  It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  many  boards  of  trustees 
are  willing  tc  cooperate  with  the  faculties  of  medical  schools  to 
improve  the  standard  of  medical  instruction ;  but  such  coopera- 
tion carries  with  it  no  rights  for  the  teachers.  Mostly,  they 
teach  and  lead  about  their  students  on  sufferance.  So  the  field 
of  selection  of  teachers  for  the  medical  schools  is  restricted, 
and  university  governors  cannot  reward  suitably  their  teachers 


566  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

with  proper  clinical  facilities,  nor  can  they  appoint  instructors, 
however  able  as  teachers,  who  do  not  hold  hospital  positions. 

Harvard  has  suffered  from  this.  She  has  often  secured 
great  teachers,  but  her  progress  has  been  in  spite  of  the  sys- 
tem pursued  in  selecting  them,  and  not  as  a  result  of  the 
system.  Within  a  few  years,  visions  of  better  things  have 
become  clear,  and  today  she  is  within  sight  of  the  goal  of 
her  long  deferred  hope.  Harvard's  transition  from  the  Col- 
lege School  to  the  Medical  University  seems  almost  complete, 
and  we  hope  that  one  of  the  pillars  of  strength  in  the  new. 
scheme  will  be  a  University  Hospital. 

Let  us  leave  the  consideration  of  that  for  later  chapters, 
and  here  pay  some  regard  to  the  means  which,  through  nearly 
one  hundred  years,  have  been  employed  with  some  measure 
of  success. 

At  the  opening  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  only  hospitals 
in  Boston  were  the  Alms  House  and  the  Dispensary.  Both 
of  these  were  in  the  hands  of  the  teaching  corps  of  the  Medi- 
cal School.  But  the  classes  of  medical  students  were  grow- 
ing, and  Philadelphia  and  New  York  were  offering  clinical 
advantages  far  in  excess  of  those  available  in  Boston.  James 
Jackson,  John  C.  Warren,  and  Gorham  were  three  examples 
of  Boston  medical  students  who  had  been  obliged  to  seek 
hospital  experience  in  Europe.  So  a  practical,  business-like 
question  was  before  the  medical  teachers  :  either  Harvard  must 
procure  hospital  facilities  for  her  students,  or  the  students 
would  seek  clinical  experience  under  private  tutors,  or  at 
some  better  equipped  school.  Jackson  and  Warren  acted. 
They  sent  the  following  circular  letter  broadcast,  asking  aid 
for  the  establishment  of  a  hospital  to  meet  the  requirements 
of  the  case.  Grateful  as  every  student  of  the  Harvard  Med- 
ical School  must  be  for  the  privileges  and  benefits  of  the  great 
hospital  that  resulted  from  that  letter,  it  has  always  been  a 
source  of  regret  that  the  hospital  was  not  made  an  integral 


CLINICAL  ADVANTAGES  AT  HARVARD      567 

part  of  Harvard  University.  Here  is  the  appeal  which  has 
been  appropriately  called  the  "Corner-stone  of  the  Massachu- 
setts General  Hospital"  : 

"  Boston,  August  20,  1810. 

"  Sir, — It  has  appeared  very  desirable  to  a  number  of  respectable  gen- 
tlemen, that  a  hospital  for  the  reception  of  lunatics  and  other  sick  persons 
should  be  established  in  this  town.  By  the  appointment  of  a  number  of 
these  gentlemen,  we  are  directed  to  adopt  such  methods  as  shall  appear 
best  calculated  to  promote  such  an  establishment.  We  therefore  beg 
leave  to  submit  for  your  consideration  proposals  for  the  institution  of  a 
hospital,  and  to  state  to  you  some  of  the  reasons  in  favour  of  such  an 
establishment. 

'"  It  is  necessary  to  urge  the  propriety  and  even  obligation  of  succouring 
the  poor  in  sickness.  The  wealthy  inhabitants  of  the  town  of  Boston  have 
always  evinced  that  they  consider  themselves  as  '  treasurers  of  God's 
bounty ' ;  and  in  Christian  countries,  in  countries  where  Christianity  is 
practised,  it  must  always  be  considered  the  first  of  duties  to  visit  and  to  heal 
the  sick.  When  in  distress,  every  man  becomes  our  neighbor,  not  only  if 
he  be  of  the  household  of  faith,  but  even  though  his  misfortunes  have 
been  induced  by  transgressing  the  rules  both  of  reason  and  religion.  It  is 
unnecessary  to  urge  the  truth  and  importance  of  these  sentiments  to  those 
who  are  already  in  the  habit  of  cherishing  them, — to  those  who  indulge 
in  the  true  luxery  of  wealth,  the  pleasures  of  charity.  The  questions  which 
first  suggest  themselves  on  this  subject  are,  whether  the  relief  afforded  by 
hospitals  is  better  than  can  be  given  in  any  other  way ;  and  whether  there 
are,  in  fact,  so  many  poor  among  us  as  to  require  an  establishment  of 
this  sort. 

"  The  relief  to  be  afforded  to  the  poor,  in  a  country  so  rich  as  ours, 
should  perhaps  be  measured  only  by  their  necessities.  We  have,  then, 
to  inquire  into  the  situation  of  the  poor  in  sickness,  and  to  learn  what  are 
their  wants.  In  this  inquiry,  we  shall  be  led  to  answer  both  the  questions 
above  stated. 

"  There  are  some  who  are  able  to  acquire  a  competence  in  health,  and 
to  provide  so  far  against  any  ordinary  sickness  as  that  they  shall  not 
then  be  deprived  of  a  comfortable  habitation,  nor  of  food  for  themselves 
and  their  families;  while  they  arc  not  able  to  defray  the  expenses  of 
medicine  and  medical  assistance.  Persons  of  this  description  never  suffer 
among  us.  The  Dispensary  gives  relief  to  hundreds  every  year;  and  the 
individuals  who  practise  medicine  gratuitously  attend  many  more  of  this 
description.  But  there  are  many  others  among  the  poor,  who  have,  if  we 
may  so  express  it,  the  form  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  without  the  sub- 
stance. A  man  may  have  a  lodging;  but  it  is  deficient  in  all  those  advan- 
tages which  are  requisite  to  the  sick.     It  is  a  garret  or  a  cellar,  without 


568  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

light  or  due  ventilation,  or  open  to  the  storms  of  an  inclement  winter.  In 
this  miserable  habitation,  he  may  obtain  liberty  to  remain  during  an  ill- 
ness; but,  if  honest,  he  is  harrassed  with  the  idea  of  his  accumulating  rent, 
which  must  be  paid  out  of  his  future  labours.  In  this  wretched  situation, 
the  sick  man  is  destitute  of  all  those  common  conveniences,  without  which 
most  of  us  would  consider  it  impossible  to  live,  even  in  health.  Whole- 
some food  and  sufficient  fuel  are  wanting ;  and  his  own  sufferings  are 
aggravated  by  the  cries  of  hungry  children.  Above  all,  he  suffers  from 
the  want  of  that  first  requisite  in  sickness,  a  kind  and  skillful  nurse. 

"  But  it  may  be  said,  that  instances  are  rare  among  us,  where  a  man. 
who  labours,  with  even  moderate  industry,  when  in  health,  endures  such 
privations  in  sickness  as  are  here  described.  They  are  not,  however,  rare 
among  those  who  are  not  industrious ;  and  who,  nevertheless,  when  labour- 
ing under  sickness,  must  be  considered  as  having  claims  to  assistance.  In 
cases  of  long-protracted  disease,  instances  of  such  a  description  do  occur 
amongst  those  of  the  most  industrious  class.  Such  instances  are  still  less 
rare  among  those  women  who  are  either  widowed,  or  worse  than  widowed. 
It  happens  too  frequently  that  modest  and  worthy  women  are  united  to 
men  who  are  profligate  and  intemperate,  by  whom  they  are  left  to  endure 
disease  and  poverty  under  the  most  aggravated  forms.  Among  the  chil- 
dren of  such  families  also,  instances  are  not  rare  of  real  suffering  in' 
sickness.  To  all  such  as  have  been  described,  a  hospital  would  supply 
every  thing  which  is  needful,  if  not  all  they  could  wish.  In  a  well-regu- 
lated hospital,  they  would  find  a  comfortable  lodging  in  a  duly  attempered 
atmosphere;  would  receive  the  food  best  suited  to  their  various  conditions; 
and  would  be  attended  by  kind  and  discrete  nurses,  under  the  directions  of 
a  physician.  In  such  a  situation,  the  poor  man's  chance  for  relief  would 
be  equal  perhaps  to  that  of  the  most  affluent,  when  affected  by  the  same 
disease. 

'  There  are  other  persons,  also,  who  are  of  great  importance  in  society, 
to  whom  the  relief  afforded  by  a  hospital  is  exceedingly  appropriate.  Such 
are  generally  those  of  good  and  industrious  habits,  who  are  affected  with 
sickness,  just  as  they  are  entering  into  active  life,  and  who  have  not  had 
time  to  provide  for  this  calamity.  Cases  of  this  sort  are  frequently  occur- 
ring. Disease  is  often  produced  by  the  very  anxiety  and  exertions  which 
belong  to  this  period  of  life ;  and  the  best  are  most  liable  to  suffer.  Of 
such  a  description,  cases  are  often  seen  among  journeymen  mechanics  and 
among  servants. 

"  Journeymen  mechanics  commonly  live  in  small  boarding-houses,  where 
they  have  accommodations  which  are  sufficient,  but  nothing  more  than 
sufficient,  in  health.  When  sick,  they  are  necessarily  placed  in  small, 
confined  apartments,  or  in  rooms  crowded  with  their  fellow-workmen. 
They  are  sheltered  from  the  weather,  and  have  food  of  some  sort ;  and 
these  must,  in  many  c?ses,  be  the  extent  of  their  accommodations.     Per- 


CLINICAL  ADVANTAGES  AT  HARVARD      569 

sons  of  this  description  would  do  well  to  enter  a  hospital,  even  if  they 
had  to  pay  the  expense  of  their  own  maintenance.  In  most  cases,  they 
would  suffer  less,  and  recover  sooner,  by  so  doing.  When,  as  sometimes 
happens,  they  have  not  the  means  of  payment,  they  become  objects  of 
charity ;  and  the  welfare  of  such  persons  should  be  considered  among  the 
strong  motives  in  favour  of  establishing  a  hospital. 

"  Servants  generally  undergo  great  inconveniences,  at  least  when  afflicted 
with  sickness,  and  oftentimes  much  more  than  inconveniences.  With  so 
much  difficulty  is  the  care  of  them  attended  in  private  families,  that  many 
gentlemen  would  pay  the  board  of  their  servants  at  a  hospital,  in  prefer- 
ence to  having  them  sick  in  their  own  houses.  In  some  cases,  however, 
neither  the  master  nor  servant  can  afford  the  expense  of  proper  care  in 
sickness.  Not  uncommonly,  a  young  girl  is  taken  sick  in  a  large  family, 
where  she  is  the  only  servant.  She  lodges  in  the  most  remote  corner  of 
the  house,  in  a  room  without  a  fireplace.  The  mistress  is  sufficiently 
occupied  with  the  unusual  labours  which  are  thrown  on  her  at  a  time 
perhaps  when  she  is  least  fitted  to  perform  them.  Under  such  circum- 
stances, how  can  the  servant  receive  those  attentions  which  are  due  to  the 
sick?  Of  what  use  is  it  that  the  physician  leaves  a  prescription  to  be  put 
up  at  the  Dispensary?  He  goes  the  next  day,  and  finds  that  there  has 
not  been  time  even  to  procure  the  remedies  which  he  had  ordered ;  mean- 
while, the  period  in  which  they  would  have  been  useful  has  passed  by,  and 
the  incipient  disease  of  yesterday  has  now  become  confirmed. 

"  Persons  of  these  descriptions  would  not  be  disposed  to  resort  to  a 
hospital  on  every  trivial  occasion.  But,  when  afflicted  with  serious  indis- 
position, they  would  find  in  such  an  institution  an  alleviation  of  their 
sufferings,  which  it  must  gladden  the  heart  of  the  most  frigid  to  con- 
template. 

"  There  is  one  class  of  sufferers  who  peculiarly  claim  all  that  benevo- 
lence can  bestow,  and  for  whom  a  hospital  is  most  especially  required. 
The  virtuous  and  industrious  are  liable  to  become  objects  of  public  charity, 
in  consequence  of  disease  of  the  mind.  When  those  who  are  unfortunate 
in  this  respect  are  left  without  proper  care,  a  calamity,  which  might  have 
been  transient,  is  prolonged  through  life.  The  number  of  such  persons, 
who  are  rendered  unable  to  provide  for  themselves,  is  probably  greater 
than  the  public  imagine;  and,  of  these,  a  large  proportion  claim  the  assist- 
ance of  the  affluent.  The  expense  which  is  attached  to  the  care  of  the 
insane  in  private  families  is  extremely  great ;  and  such  as  to  ruin  a  whole 
family  that  is  possessed  of  a  competancc  under  ordinary  circumstances, 
when  called  upon  to  support  one  of  its  members  in  this  situation.  Even 
those  who  can  pay  the  necessary  expenses  would  perhaps  find  an  institu- 
tion, such  as  is  proposed,  the  best  situation  in  which  they  could  place  their 
unfortunate  friends.  It  is  worthy  of  the  opulent  men  of  this  town,  and 
consistent  with  their  general  character,  to  provide  an  asylum  for  the  insane 


570  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

from  every  part  of  the  Commonwealth.  But  if  funds  are  raised  for  the 
purpose  proposed,  it  is  probable  that  the  Legislature  will  grant  some  assist- 
ance, with  a  view  to  such  an  extension  of  its  benefits. 

"  Of  another  class,  whose  necessities  would  be  removed  by  the  establish- 
ment of  a  hospital,  are  women  who  are  unable  to  provide  for  their  own 
welfare  and  safety  in  one  of  nature's  most  trying  hours.  Houses  for 
lying-in  women  have  been  found  extremely  useful  in  the  large  cities  of 
Europe ;  and,  although  abuses  may  have  arisen  in  consequence,  these  are 
such  as  are  more  easily  prevented  in  a  small  than  a  large  town. 

There  are  many  others  who  would  find  great  relief  in  a  hospital,  and 
many  times  have  life  preserved  when  otherwise  it  would  be  lost.  Such 
especially  are  the  subjects  of  accidental  wounds  and  fractures  among  the 
poorer  classes  of  our  citizens;  and  the  subjects  of  extraordinary  diseases, 
m  any  part  of  the  Commonwealth,  who  may  require  the  long  and  careful 
attention  of  either  the  physician  or  surgeon. 

"  It  is  possible  that  we  may  be  asked  whether  the  almshouse  does  not 
answer  the  purposes  for  which  a  hospital  is  proposed.  That  it  does  not, 
is  very  certain.  The  town  is  so  much  indebted  to  the  liberality  of  those 
gentlemen  who,  without  compensation,  superintend  the  care  of  the  poor, 
that  we  ought  not  to  make  this  reply  without  an  explanation.  The  truth 
is  that  the  almshouse  could  not  serve  the  purpose  of  a  hospital,  without 
such  an  entire  change  in  the  arrangements  of  it  as  the  overseers  do  not 
feel  themselves  authorized  to  make,  and  such  as  the  town  could  not  be 
easily  induced  to  direct  or  to  support. 

'  The  almshouse  receives  all  those  who  do  not  take  care  of  themselves, 
and  who  are  destitute  of  property,  whether  they  be  old  and  infirm,  and 
unable  to  provide  means  of  assistance ;  or  are  too  vicious  and  debauched 
to  employ  themselves  in  honest  labour ;  or  are  prevented  from  so  employ- 
ing themselves  by  occasional  sickness.  This  institution,  then,  is  made  to 
comprehend  what  is  more  properly  meant  by  an  almshouse,  a  bridewell 
or  house  of  correction,  and  a  hospital.  Now,  the  economy  and  mode  of 
government  cannot  possibly  be  adapted  at  once  to  all  these  various  pur- 
poses. It  must  necessarily  happen  that  in  many  instances  the  worst  mem- 
bers of  the  community,  the  debauched  and  profligate,  obtain  admission  into 
this  house.  Hence  it  has  become,  in  some  measure,  disreputable  to  live  in 
it;  and  not  unfrequently,  those  who  are  the  most  deserving  objects  of 
charity  cannot  be  induced  to  enter  it.  To  some  of  them,  death  appears 
less  terrible  than  a  residence  in  the  almshouse. 

'"  It  is  true  that  the  sick  in  that  house  are  allowed  some  greater  privi- 
leges and  advantages  than  are  extended  to  those  in  health ;  yet  the  general 
arrangements  and  regulations  arc.  necessarily,  so  different  from  those  re- 
quired in  a  hospital,  that  the  sick — far  from  having  the  advantages  afforded 
by  the  medical  art — have  not  the  fair  chance  for  recovery  which  nature 
alone  would  give  then.     Most  especially  they  suffer  for  the  want  of  good 


CLINICAL  ADVANTAGES  AT  HARVARD      571 

nurses.  In  these  officers  must  be  placed  trust  and  confidence  of  the  highest 
nature.  Their  duties  are  laborious  and  painful.  In  the  almshouse,  they 
are  selected  from  among  the  more  healthy  inhabitants ;  but,  unfortunately, 
those  who  are  best  qualified  will  always  prefer  more  profitable  and  less 
laborious  occupations  elsewhere.  It  must,  then,  be  obvious  that  the  persons 
employed  as  nurses  cannot  be  such  as  will  conscientiously  perform  the 
duties  of  this  office. 

"  In  addition  to  what  has  already  been  stated,  there  are  a  number  of 
collateral  advantages  that  would  attend  the  establishment  of  a  hospital  in 
this  place.  These  are  the  facilities  for  acquiring  knowledge,  which  it 
would  give  to  the  students  in  the  medical  school  established  in  this  town. 
The  means  of  medical  education  in  New  England  are  at  present  very  lim- 
ited, and  totally  inadequate  to  so  important  a  purpose.  Students  of  medi- 
cine cannot  qualify  themselves  properly  for  their  profession,  without  in- 
curring heavy  expenses,  such  as  very  few  of  them  are  able  to  defray.  The 
only  medical  school  of  eminence  in  this  country  is  that  at  Philadelphia, 
nearly  four  hundred  miles  distant  from  Boston  ;  and  the  expense  of  attend- 
ing that  is  so  great,  that  students  from  this  quarter  rarely  remain  at  it 
longer  than  one  year.  Even  this  advantage  is  enjoyed  by  very  few,  com- 
pared with  the  whole  number.  Those  who  are  educated  in  New  England 
have  so  few  opportunities  of  attending  to  the  practice  of  physic,  that  they 
find  it  impossible  to  learn  some  of  the  most  important  elements  of  the 
science  of  medicine,  until  after  they  have  undertaken  for  themselves  the 
care  of  the  health  and  lives  of  their  fellow-citizens.  This  care  they  under- 
take with  very  little  knowledge,  except  that  acquired  from  books ; — a  source 
whence  it  is  highly  useful  and  indespensable  that  they  should  obtain  knowl- 
edge, but  one  from  which  alone  they  never  can  obtain  all  that  is  necessary 
to  qualify  them  for  their  professional  duties.  With  such  deficiencies  in 
medical  education,  it  is  needless  to  show  to  what  evils  the  community  is 
exposed. 

'To  remedy  evils  so  important  and  so  extensive,  it  is  necessary  to  have 
a  medical  school  in  New  England.  All  the  materials  necessary  to  form 
this  school  exist  among  us.  Wealth,  abundantly  sufficient,  can  be  devoted 
to  the  purpose,  without  any  individual's  feeling  the  smallest  privation  of 
any,  even  of  the  luxuries  of  life.  Every  one  is  liable  to  suffer  from  the 
want  of  such  a  school ;  every  one  may  derive,  directly  or  indirectly,  the 
greatest  benefits  from  its  establishment. 

A  hospital  is  an  institution  absolutely  essential  to  a  medical  school,  and 
one  which  would  afford  relief  and  comfort  to  thousands  of  the  sick  and 
miserable.  On  what  other  objects  can  the  superfluities  of  the  rich  be  so 
well  bestowed? 

"The  amount  required  for  the  institution  proposed  may,  at  first  sight, 
appear  large.  Rut  it  will  cease  to  appear  so,  when  we  consider  that  it  is 
to  afford  relief,  not  only  to  those  who  may  require  assistance  during  the 


572  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

present  year  or  present  age,  but  that  it  is  to  erect  a  most  honourable 
monument  of  the  munificence  of  the  present  times,  which  will  ensure  to  its 
founders  the  blessings  of  thousands  in  ages  to  come;  and  when  we  add 
that  this  amount  may  be  raised  at  once,  if  a  few  opulent  men  will  con- 
tribute only  their  superfluous  income  for  one  year.  Compared  with  the 
benefits  which  such  an  establishment  would  afford,  of  what  value  is  the 
pleasure  of  accumulating  riches  in  those  stores  which  are  already  groaning 
under  their  weight? 

"  Hospitals  and  infirmaries  are  found  in  all  the  Christian  cities  of  the 
Old  World ;  and  our  large  cities  in  the  Middle  States  have  institutions  of 
this  sort,  which  do  great  honour  to  the  liberality  and  benevolence  of  their 
founders.  We  flatter  ourselves  that  in  this  respect,  as  in  all  others,  Boston 
may  ere  long  assert  her  claim  to  equal  praise. 

"  We  are,   sir,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servants, 

"  James  Jackson. 
"John  C.  Warren." 

A  charter  was  obtained  from  the  Legislature  on  February 
25th,  181 1,  incorporating  James  Bowdoin  and  fifty-five  others, 
— "good  citizens  of  the  Commonwealth", — under  the  name  of 
the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital.  The  Governor,  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor, the  President  of  the  Senate,  the  Speaker 
of  the  House,  and  the  Chaplains  of  both  Houses  were  con- 
stituted a  Board  of  Visitors.  Twelve  Trustees  were  made 
managers  of  the  institution,  four  of  them  to  be  chosen  by  the 
Board  of  Visitors.  The  Province  House  Estate*  was  granted 
upon  the  condition  that  an  additional  sum  of  one-hundred 
thousand  dollars  should  be  obtained  by  private  subscription 
within  the  five  years  following.  Unfortunately,  the  war  of 
18 1 2,  which  followed  immediately,  put  an  end  to  the  under- 
taking until  the  year  18 16.  A  resolve  passed  by  the  Legisla- 
ture in  that  latter  year  repealed  many  of  the  troublesome  con- 

*  This  embraced  a  tract  of  land  covering  about  half  an  acre  between 
Marlborough  (now  Washington)  street  and  Province  street.  The  House 
was  the  ancient  seat  of  the  Governors  of  the  Commonwealth.  Its  value  in 
1816  was  twenty  thousand  dollars.  Its  value  today  would  probably  be 
something  over  eight  hundred  thousand  dollars.  It  was  leased  to  David 
Greenough  in  181 7,  for  ninety-nine  years,  for  the  sum  of  thirty-three 
thousand  dollars.     It  will  revert  to  the  Hospital  in  1916. 


CLINICAL  ADVANTAGES  AT  HARVARD      573 

ditions  imposed  by  the  previous  Act,  and  gave  authority  to 
sell  the  Province  House,  with  the  distinct  understanding  that 
the  proceeds  of  the  sale  should  go  into  the  State  Treasury, 
unless,  within  one  year  from  the  sale,  the  sum  of  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars  should  be  obtained.  The  stone  work  in  build- 
ing the  institution  was  to  be  done  by  convicts  from  the  State 
Prison.  Several  hospital  sites  were  proposed.  Such  physi- 
cians as  Rand,  Hayward,  Warren,  Jackson  and  Dexter  fa- 
vored that  newly  made  land,  now  the  Boston  Public  Garden. 

In  January,  1814,  a  remarkable  address  to  the  public  was 
issued,  saying,  among  other  things,  "that  no  plea  arising  from 
'the  hardship  of  the  times',  'the  general  embarrassment  of 
affairs',  or  'the  claims  of  other  charities',  can  or  ought  to 
avail  the  community.  If  such  a  proposal  as  this  fail,  it  will 
be,  in  the  judgment  of  the  undersigned,  decisive  of  the  fate 
of  the  establishment.  It  will  then  be  apparent  that  the  will  is 
wanting  in  the  public  to  patronize  such  an  undertaking;  and 
that  the  honor  of  laying  the  foundation  of  a  fabric  of  charity 
so  noble  and  majestic  must  be  left  for  times  when  a  higher 
cast  of  character  predominates,  and  to  a  more  enlightened  and 
sympathetic  race  of  men". 

On  May  18,  1814,  a  communication  from  George  Park- 
man*  was  received  in  which  he  stated  his  intention  to  erect 
a  Hospital  for  the  Insane.  § 

In  April,  18 16,  a  second  address  from  the  promoters  of 
the  Hospital  was  sent  out,  in  which  it  was  stated  that  the 
prescribed  time  limit  for  raising  a  specified  amount  of  money 
had  been  extended  and  modified,  and  that  subscriptions  could 
be  directed  to  be  applied  to  either  the  Hospital  department  or 
to  the  Insane  department.  The  following  letter  sent  to  vari- 
ous towns  shows  the  practical  method  then  inaugurated : 

*  George   Parkman   was  graduated   A.    B.   at   Harvard   in   1809;    M.    D. 
Aberdeen  1813 ;  died  1849. 

§  The  Almshouse  had  accommodations  for  eight  insane  patients  only. 


574:  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

"BOSTON,  May,  1816. 
"  Gentlemen, 

"THE  inclosed  papers  will  explain  the  object  of  this  communication. 
The  legislature  of  the  Commonwealth  having  made  it  the  duty  of  the 
Trustees  of  the  General  Hospital  to  solicit  the  aid  of  the  public  for  this 
important  institution,  they  have  considered  that  no  mode  was  more  likely 
to  be  acceptable  and  successful  than  to  request  a  number  of  liberal  and 
influential  gentlemen  in  each  town  of  the  Commonwealth  to  obtain  a  small 
specific  sum  in  such  town  ;  thereby  equalizing  the  exertion  and  the  contri- 
bution, and  enabling  every  part  of  the  Commonwealth  to  share  in  the 
honor  of  its  foundation,  and  to  have  an  equal  claim  to  partake  in  its  ad- 
vantages. 

"  In  the  amount  requested  from  each  Town,  the  Trustees  have  carefully 
restricted  their  request  to  a  sum  in  no  case  exceeding  and  in  almost  all 
cases,  less  than  its  relative  ratio  of  wealth,  as  far  as  they  could  obtain 
information  on  the  subject,  leaving  by  far  the  greatest  part  of  the  burden 
of  this  contribution  to  be  borne  by  the  Capital,  and  by  towns  distinguished 
for  greatness  of  wealth  and  population. 

"  With  these  views  the  Trustees  request  you  Gentlemen  to  act  as  a 
Committee  for  the  Town  of  Toppan  and  to  obtain  and  remit  to<  James 
Prince  Esq.,  Treasurer  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital  Corpora- 
tion, if  possible,  a  sum  not  less  than  170  dollars,  by  subscription,  in  any 
form  and  in  any  amount,  which  will  be  likely  best  to  effectuate  the  object 
and  to  equalize  this  charity  among  the  benevolent. 

"Lest  this  establishment  should  be  considered  of  a  local  nature,  the 
Trustees  take  the  liberty  to  observe  that  it  is  the  great  object  of  this  insti- 
tution to  enable  persons  in  all  parts  of  the  Commonwealth  to  avail  them- 
selves of  the  best  medical  and  surgical  aid,  which  our  country  affords, 
under  the  most  advantageous  circumstances.  The  Trustees  also  hope  that 
the  proposed  asylum  for  the  insane,  by  the  liberality  which  they  trust  will 
characterise  the  contributions  to  it,  will,  at  no  distant  period,  relieve,  not 
only  many  individuals,  labouring  under  this  heaviest  of  human  calami- 
ties, but  also  all  the  towns  of  this  Commonwealth  of  a  great  part,  if  not 
the  whole  of  the  burden,  to  which  they  are  at  present  subject  for  their 
superintendance  and  support. 

"  We  rely,  gentlemen,  upon  your  co-operation  in  our  exertions  to  attain 
this  great  object,  and  request  that  a  return  may  be  made  of  the  result  in 
your   town,    to    either    of    the    Trustees,    or    to    the    Treasurer,    JAMES 
PRINCE,  ESQ.  on  or  before  the  first  day  of  August  next. 
"  We  are  Gentlemen,  respectfully  yours,  &c. 

"  T.  H.  Perkins.  "  Daniel  Sargent. 

"Joshia  Quincy.  "Tristram  Bardnard. 

"  Jos.  May.  "  Rd.  Sullivan." 


CLINICAL  ADVANTAGES  AT  HARVARD      575 

The  Joy  Estate  at  Charlestown  was  purchased*  December 
18,  1816,  for  an  Insane  Hospital,  and  land  on  Leverett  Street 
was  procured  upon  which  to  erect  the  General  Hospital  "as 
soon  as  the  moneys,  which  they  flatter  themselves  will  be 
readily  subscribed,  shall  have  been  collected".  The  result 
of  this  organized  effort  was  that  in  three  days  the  subscrip- 
tions were  $78,802.  To  this  was  added  $15,167  during  the 
next  six  days,  making  a  grand  total  of  $93,969  collected  in 
nine  days.  The  final  total  subscription  amounted  to  more 
than  one  hundred  and  forty-six  thousand  dollars.  After  the 
consideration  of  various  sites,  one  on  North  Allen  Street  was 
selected  for  the  General  Hospital. 

On  April  6,  18 17,  Samuel  Danforth,  Isaac  Rand,  John 
Jeffries,  Samuel  Hayward,  David  Townsend,  Thomas  Welsh, 
Aaron  Dexter,  and  William  Spooner,  were  chosen  consulting 
physicians ;  James  Jackson,  acting  physician ;  John  C.  War- 
ren, acting  surgeon.  Plans  were  drawn  by  the  famous  archi- 
tect. Charles  Bulfinch,  and  the  corner  stone  of  the  Hospital 
was  laid  July  4,  1818.  Rufus  Wyman§  was  elected  Resident 
Physician  and  Superintendent  of  the  Asylum. 

The  first  patient  was  admitted  to  the  Massachusetts  Gen- 
eral Hospital  on  September  3,  1821,  and  no  further  applica- 
tions for  admission  occurred  until  September  20.  On  Octo- 
ber 4th,  Jackson  nominated  Walter  Channing  as  his  assist- 
ant. Six  free  beds  were  established  January  10,  1822,  and 
in  November,  1823.  a  bequest  of  twenty-five-thousand  dollars 
was  received  from  John  McLean,  who  donated  a  further  sum 
of  over  ninety-thousand  dollars  to  the  Hospital  as  a  residuary 
legatee.  It  was  voted  by  the  Corporation,  June  12,  1826,  that 
the  best  mode  of  perpetuating  the  memory  of  John  McLean 
was  to  name  the  Asylum  "The  McLean  Asylum  for  the  In- 

*  For  the  sum  of  $15,650.     In  1817  a  tract  of  die  estate  not  exceeding  in 
all  fifteen  acres  was  purchased  for  $15,000. 
§A.  B.  1799;  A.  M.  1804;  M.  B.  1804;  M.  D.  1811. 


576  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

sane".  The  income  from  this  McLean  donation  was  so  op- 
portune that  it  was  seriously  proposed  to  give  the  donor's 
name  to  the  General  Hospital. 

The  hospital  reports  prior  to  1826  have  not  been  preserved. 
In  that  year  there  were  forty-three  free  beds  at  the  Hospital, 
and  fifty-seven  inmates  at  the  Asylum.  The  west  wing  of  the 
Hospital  was  completed,  and  the  whole  institution  was  free 
from  debt,*  while  fifty  thousand  dollars  had  been  invested 
in  the  Massachusetts  Hospital  Life  Insurance  Company. 

In  1828  the  Acting  Physician  and  Acting  Surgeon  were 
requested  to  nominate  assistants,  "the  Trustees  deeming  it 
desirable  that  occasional  changes  should  be  made  in  those 
nominated,  when  consistent  with  the  welfare  of  the  institu- 
tion". The  number  of  patients  discharged  for  the  year  end- 
ing April  1,  1828,  was  218.  At  the  close  of  1832  there  were 
fifty-two  patients  in  the  Hospital :  and  fifty-one  in  the  Asy- 
lum. During  the  sixteen  years  (1818-1833,  inclusive)  there 
had  been  1015  admissions  to  the  Asylum. 

The  growing  needs  of  the  Hospital  were  shown  in  1834, 
by  a  petition  from  the  Physicians  and  Surgeons  asking  for 
a  new  building  or  wing.§  Here  are  two  instances  which  show 
the  zeal  and  care  with  which  the  Hospital  was  cherished :  The 
first  deals  with  the  election  of  Luther  V.  Bell  (December  11. 
1836)  as  successor  to  Thomas  G.  Lee,  late  Physician  and 
Superintendent  of  the  Asylum.  Bell  was  unanimously 
elected,  "provided  a  committee  then  appointed  consisting  of 
Messrs.  Eliot  and  Quincy,  shall  be  satisfied  that  he  will  pur- 
sue the  course  of  moral  and  religious  treatment  of  patients 
adopted  by  Dr.  Lee,  and  they  shall  be  so  satisfied  before  com- 
municating the  appointment".     The  standard  already  set  by 

*  The  Hospital  held  a  right  under  the  charter  of  1814  to  grant  annuities 
on  lives,  and  by  subsequent  acts  a  share  in  all  insurances  companies' 
profits  unless  otherwise  specifically  stated  in  their  charter. 

§  Such  wings  were  erected  eleven  years  later. 


CLINICAL  ADVANTAGES  AT  HARVARD      577 

Wyman  and  Lee  was  advanced  by  Bell.     The  second  event 
was  marked  by  the  following  resolution  April  23,  1837: 

"  Voted  that  the  Trustees  have  recently  seen,  with  great  pain,  that  a 
violation  of  the  rules  of  the  institution  by  one  of  its  officers  has  become 
the  subject  of  newspaper  animadversion.  In  an  institution  like  this,  to 
which  it  is  difficult  to  attract,  and  in  which  it  is  so  important  to  command, 
public  confidence,  the  strictest  and  most  scrupulous  adherence  to  rules, 
of  which  the  propriety  is  unquestioned,  is  required  by  a  just  regard  as 
well  to  its  usefulness  to  the  public,  as  to  the  character  of  those  who  have 
any  agency  in  its  direction  and  control.  Where  many  persons  are  con- 
nected in  different  departments,  the  reputation  of  all  is  more  or  less 
affected  by  the  conduct  of  each ;  and  all  are  therefore  bound,  by  respect  for 
others  as  well  as  themselves,  to  conduct  themselves  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
give  no  reasonable  ground  of  complaint.  The  Trustees  have  felt  unlimited 
confidence  that  no  officer  of  the  institution  would  expose  himself  to  just 
centure,  and  they  have  on  all  occasions  been  but  very  slightly  affected  by 
remarks  which  they  have  had  reason  to  believe  were  founded  on  jealously 
or  misconception.  But  it  is  with  very  different  feelings  they  regard  an 
accusation  of  violation  of  a  rule,  which,  on  inquiry,  proves  to  be  true ; 
and  they  think  it  due  to  themselves  to  take  serious  notice  of  it,  and  to  put 
on  record  their  denial  of  all  knowledge  of  the  circumstance  at  the  time  of 
its  occurrence,  and  to  express  their  hope  that  nothing  may  ever  again  re- 
quire a  similar  expression  of  their  feelings.  Lest,  however,  the  breach  of 
confidence  may  be  imagined  to  be  of  a  more  serious  character  than  it  really 
was,  they  think  proper  to  state,  that  the  circumstance  to  which  they  allude 
was  the  employment  of  Dr.  J.  Mason  Warren,  a  young  man  not  connected 
with  the  Hospital,  during  the  absence  of  his  father,  whose  turn  it  was  to 
officiate." 

The  foregoing  resolution  does  not  seem  to  have  been  taken 
very  seriously  even  by  the  trustees  themselves.* 

The  elder  Warren  wrote  a  candid  reply,  fully  and  satisfac- 
torily explaining  the  circumstances  of  the  incident,  and  perma- 
nent good  feeling  was  restored. 

In  1844  an  address  from  the  Trustees  to  the  public  was 
issued,  together  with  a  letter  from  the  six  attending  Physicians 


*  J.  Mason  Warren  was  elected  visiting  Surgeon  to  the  Hospital  in  1846, 
and  served  until  his  death  in  1867.  He  was  the  founder  of  the  Warren 
Triennial   Prize,   established  at   the   Massachusetts   General   Hospital. 


578  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

and  Surgeons,  asking  for  assistance  in  enlarging  the  Hos- 
pital. Over  sixty-two  thousand  dollars  were  raised  with  which 
two  large  wings  were  erected.  An  unsuccessful  attempt  was 
made  July  n,  1845,  by  J.  C.  Warren  and  Jacob  Bigelow  to 
establish  a  Lying-in  department.* 

The  enlargement  of  the  Hospital  necessitated  an  increase 
in  the  medical  and  surgical  staff,  and  in  February,  1846, 
Henry  I.  Bowditch,  John  D.  Fisher  and  O.  W.  Holmes  were 
added  to>  the  medical  staff,  and  Henry  J.  Bigelow,  Samuel 
Parkman  and  J.  Mason  Warren  were  added  to  the  surgical 
staff.  An  Out-patient  Department  was  established  in  June, 
1847,  the  new  east  wing  being  ready  for  the  admission  of  pa- 
tients. The  growth  of  the  hospital  for  the  first  fifty  years 
is  shown  by  the  following  table : 

Patients  Admitted. 

1821-31    3-592 

.  1831  -41    4,406 

1841-51    6,393 

1851-61    io,39S 

1861-71    13,764 

Total     38,550 

Applications.     Admissions. 

1862  1,888  1,693 

1863  2,015  1,742 

1864  1,932  1,700 

1865  1,430  1,281 

1866  1,328  1,223 

1867  1.419  i,295 

1868  i,474  i,357 

1869  1,633  i,498 

1870  1,706  1,381 

1871  i,78i  1.502 

The  report  for  the  year  1847  is  voluminous,  and  goes  into 


*The  Humane  Society  had  presented  a  similar  petition  in  1831. 


CLINICAL  ADVANTAGES  AT  HARVARD      579 

the  question  of  etherization,  an  important  event  in  the  Hos- 
pital.    We  have  considered  this  matter  in  a  separate  chapter. 

In  1864  (February  28th)  it  was  recorded,  "Whereas  the 
interests  of  the  out-patients  will  be  promoted,  the  convenience 
of  the  Visiting  Surgeons  be  subserved,  and  the  benefits  of 
the  institution  be  increased,  by  the  appointment  of  a  surgeon 
to  that  class  of  patients,  "Voted,  That  a  Surgeon  to  out-pa- 
tients be  and  hereby  is  established,  whose  duties  shall  corre- 
spond generally  with  those  of  the  Physician  to  the  same  de- 
partment". Algernon  Coolidge  (Harv.  Med.  1853)  was 
elected  to  the  position. 

There  were  in  this  year  (1864)  1599  patients  admitted 
to  the  Hospital  proper,  3761  medical  cases  and  1858  surgical 
cases  to  the  Out-patient  Department,  and  302  cases  to  the 
Asylum. 

The  Physician  and  the  Surgeon  to  out-patients  were  author- 
ized to  charge  each  patient  for  his  first  visit,  whenever  such 
patient  could  pay.  The  number  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons 
in  the  Out-patient  department  was  increased  from  year  to 
year  as  the  growth  of  the  Hospital  required.  A  new  operating 
theatre  was  completed  in  1868  which  was  used  for  its  desig- 
nated purpose  until  1902.  After  H.  J.  Bigelow's  retirement 
in  1886  it  received  his  name.  It  is  now  used  for  the  Zander 
apparatus.  The  new  surgical  amphitheatre  opened  in  1902 
is  known  as  the  Bigelow  Amphitheatre. 

On  June  4,  1869,  the  Trustees  voted  that  all  Hospital  out- 
patients affected  with  diseases  of  skin  be  assigned  to  a  special 
department  under  the  care  and  treatment  of  James  C.  White.* 

James  C.  White  was  Chemist  and  Visiting  Physician  in 
1867,  and  in  1870  resigned  to  establish  a  special  department 
in  Diseases  of  the  skin.     A  Dermatological  Ward  in  the  Hos- 

*  James   C.   White    was  graduated   Harvard   1853,  A.   B. ;    1856,  M.  D. ; 
Adjunct  Professor  of  Chemistry;    Professor  of  Dermatology. 


580  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

pital  was  opened  in  October  of  that  year.  The  annual  report 
shows  that  White  made  2,045  visits  to  patients  suffering  from 
diseases  of  the  skin.  The  report  of  i87i§  contains  the  fol- 
lowing: 

'  The  experiment  of  a  separate  ward  for  the  treatment  of  patients  af- 
flicted with  skin  diseases,  though  by  no  means  unsuccessful  in  its  especial 
results,  was  regarded  by  the  Trustees  as  open  to  some  general  objections, 
and  was  discontinued  at  the  close  of  the  year.  Dr.  James  C.  White  had 
on  his  own  part  made  a  most  faithful  trial  of  the  experiment,  and  had 
devoted  to  it  his  skill  and  experience  in  his  specialty.  He  continues  to 
serve  the  institution  as  Chemist,  and  Physician  to  patients  with  diseases 
of  the  skin." 

The  upbuilding  of  a  hospital  such  as  the  Massachusetts 
General  was  of  the  greatest  importance  to  the  Harvard  Med- 
ical School.  Most  of  the  instructors  had  had  previous  oppor- 
tunities for  teaching  in  the  Hospital.  Of  course  there  were 
advantages  to  the  School  from  this  fact,  and  much  the  same 
arrangement  with  the  various  Boston  hospitals  maintains  to- 
day. Here  is  the  fragment  of  an  ancient  letter  taken  from 
the  Warren  papers,  and  bearing  on  the  Hospital  and  School 
relationship  in  the  early  days  of  the  Hospital's  development : 

1.  '  The  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  the  Hospital  are  of  an  opinion, 
that  the  admission  of  medical  pupils  is  not  desirable  at  present ;  but 
having  been  requested  to  fix  on  some  terms  of  admission,  they  have  de- 
cided on  such  as  appear  to  them  reasonable.  They  are  not  anxious  for 
pecuniary  emolument  from  this  source.  Having  been  engaged  for  the  last 
ten  or  fifteen  years  in  helping  forward  this  establishment,  their  feelings 
are  deeply  interested  in  its  prosperity  and  success.  The  gratification  of 
seeing  so  fine  an  establishment  for  the  relief  of  the  unfortunate,  in  full 
operation,  is  the  highest  reward  they  expect  to  receive ;  and  the  plans 
which  are  now  maturing  will,  they  are  satisfied,  afford  them  this  pleasure 
in  a  very  short  time. 

'  The  utility  of  the  Hospital  to  the  promotion  of  medical  science,  by 
affording  a  fair  view  of  practice,  by  the  introduction  of  improvements  in 

§  Page  669.  "  History  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,"  by  N. 
I.  Bowditch.  Most  of  the  foregoing  account  of  the  Hospital  has  been 
derived  from  this  source. 


CLINICAL  ADVANTAGES  AT  HARVARD      581 

medical  and  surgical  science,  and  in  the  mechanical  part  of  the  latter,  they 
have  always  thought  of  great  consideration.  Something  has  already  been 
done  in  this  way;  but  as  yet  the  arrangements  are  imperfect.  Time  is 
required  to  bring  into  order  an  institution,  in  which  everything  is  new ; 
but  they  are  much  satisfied  with  the  rapid  advances  made  towards  the 
state  of  improvement  which  will  crown  their  wishes. 

"  We  are  fully  sensible  of  the  difficulties  which  many  students  of  medi- 
cine have  to  encounter  in  finding  means  to  go  through  a  regular  medical 
education ;  at  the  same  time  we  feel  ourselves  called  on  to  act  for  the 
general  welfare  as  well  as  the  partial  good,  and  to  consider  the  future,  as 
well  as  the  present. 

2.  "  The  attending  physicians  and  surgeons  of  the  Massachusetts  Gen- 
eral Hospital  have  determined  to  fix  on  the  fee  of  twenty  dollars  for  a 
pupil's  attendance,  from  the  first  day  of  March  unto  the  first  day  of  No- 
vember, 1822. 

"  The  pupils  will  be  admited  twice  a  week  at  least,  at  specified  hours, 
and  oftener  when  circumstances  render  it  expedient. 

"'  This  fee  may  appear  large  from  the  circumstance  that  the  patients  are 
now  few  in  number ;  and  no  fee  has  yet  been  demanded. 

"  It  is  necessary  however  that  the  fee  determined  on  should  be  so  with 
a  view  to  the  future;  and  the  advantages  even  now,  at  the  hospital,  are 
considerable,  greater  probably  than  can  elsewhere  be  obtained  for  the  same 
sum ;  and  they  are  daily  increasing. 

"  Some  persons  may  view  this  subject  so  slightly  as  to  think  that  pupils 
should  be  admited  to  the  hospital  as  a  public  institution  without  any  fee 
or  for  a  very  small  fee. 

;'  The  trustees  of  the  hospital  have  determined  that  the  medical  attend- 
ants shall  receive  no  other  fee  than  that  for  admission  of  pupils — there  is 
no  salary  nor  no  perquisites ;  but  even  some  direct  expenses. 

"  Now  it  is  not  to  be  presumed  that  any  will  expect  physicians  in  full 
practice  to  leave  their  business  and  devote  a  considerable  time  to  a  public 
institution,  without  compensation.  Every  man  must  be  paid  for  his  labours 
in  some  way  or  other,  and  time  and  charge  of  such  a  public  institution  is 
not  a  small  affair  to  those  who  would  do  justice  to  it.  The  idea  that  the 
increase  of  reputation  or  of  business  or  of  benefit  through  the  medical 
school  are  to  be  a  sufficient  compensation  for  the  arduous  duties  of  this 
place,  is  not  well  founded.  Any  one  who  considers  the  matter  in  a  dis- 
interested way  will  perceive  that  neither  of  these  are  adequate  sources  of 
reward  for  so  much  time  and  responsibility  as  will  be  required  here,  espe- 
cially if  the  physicians  happened  not  to  belong  to  the  Medical  School. 

'  The  arrangements  made  now  are  not  so  much  with  a  view  to  the 
present  as  the  future.  Some  sort  of  return  compensation  must  be  pro- 
vided to  insure  the  attendance  of  medical  men,  such  as  the  public  demand 
for  these  situations.     That  which  is  contemplated   will  not  amount  to  any- 


582  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

thing  like  compensation  for  the  services  rendered ;  but  it  will  be  something 
to  be  added  to  other  considerations;  and  as  little  as  the  respectability  of 
the  institution  will  admit. 

"No  doubt  there  arc  physicians  and  very  respectable  ones  who  would 
undertake  to  attend  the  Hospital  for  nothing;  but  that  they  would  continue 
to  do  so  in  a  faithful  manner  for  a  succession  of  years  is  incredible.  It  is 
contrary  to  the  common  course  of  human  affairs;  and  will  never  happen. 
(Italics  mine.) 

"  In  regard  to  the  claim  which  some  may  think  they  have  to  admission ; 
because  this  is  an  institution  of  publick  nature;  such  a  claim  is  unfounded. 
Students  of  medicine  have  no  claim  on  this  Hospital,  any  more  than  other 
classes  of  the  community.  If  the  trustees  of  the  Hospital  think  proper  to 
admit  them  there  for  a  reasonable  fee ;  and  they,  on  their  part,  think  the 
advantages  to  be  obtained  will  balance  their  fee — then  there  is  a  fair  bar- 
gain between  two  parties.  At  one  time  there  was  much  probability  that 
medical  pupils  would  be  wholly  excluded  on  account  of  the  prejudices 
against  their  admission." 

"  MASSACHUSETTS  GENERAL  HOSPITAL. 

"  The  Subscribers  are  desirous  that  pupils  should  derive  all  the  benefit, 
which  the  Hospital  can  afford  them ;  at  the  same  time  it  is  their  duty  to 
regard  the  good  order  of  the  Institution  and  the  comforts  of  the  patients. 
For  these  purposes  they  have  drawn  up  the  following  rules  for  the  ad- 
mission and  conduct  of  pupils. 

"  I.  During  the  lectures  the  pupils  attending  the  anatomical  course  will 
be  admitted  to  see  the  surgical  practice,  and  those  attending  the  course  on 
the  theory  and  practice  of  physic  will  be  admitted  to  see  the  medical 
practice  of  the  Hospital. 

"  2.  At  other  times  the  private  pupils  of  the  physicians  and  surgeons 
of  the  Hospital  will  be  admitted  equally  to  see  all  the  patients;  except 
where  very  peculiar  circumstances  may  forbid. 

"  3.  Hospital  tickets  will  be  furnished  to  other  medical  pupils,  who  will 
thereby  be  entitled  to  the  same  privileges  at  the  Hospital,  as  the  private 
pupils  of  the  physicians  and  surgeons.  All  such  tickets  will  be  dated  on 
the  first  day  of  either  March  of  September.  A  Hospital  ticket  will  admit 
a  pupil  to  the  Hospital  for  one  year  from  its  date,  exclusive  of  the  period 
of  the  lectures  in  the  Massachusetts  Medical  College.  The  fee  for  a 
Hospital  ticket  shall  be  thirty  dollars. 

"4.  The  days  and  hours  of  attendance  by  the  pupils  at  the  Hospital 
will  be  from  time  to  time  made  known  to  them.  They  will  not  be  per- 
mitted to  visit  the  Hospital  on  Sundays;  nor  at  any  other  than  the  ap- 
pointed hours  on  other  days;  except  by  the  special  order  of  the  physician 
or  surgeon. 

"  5.     On   the  regular  days  of  visiting  the  pupils  are  not   to  remain  at 


CLINICAL  ADVANTAGES  AT  HARVARD      583 

the  Hospital  longer  than  is  absolutely  necessary  for  the  visits.  They  are 
not  to  converse  with  the  patients  or  nurses.  During  operations  and  while 
in  the  wards  they  are  to  abstain  from  conversation  with  each  other ;  they 
are  not  to  walk  about ;  nor  in  any  other  way  disturb  either  the  medical 
officer,  or  the  patients. 

"  6.  In  all  cases,  in  which  it  will  be  proper  for  the  pupils  to  make  any 
personal  examination  of  a  patient,  such  as  feeling  the  pulse,  examining  a 
tumour,  &c.  an  intimation  to  that  effect  will  be  given  them  by  the  physician 
or  surgeon.  It  must  be  obvious  that  the  greatest  inconveniences  must 
arise,  if  such  examinations  were  commonly  made  by  the  pupils. 

"  7.  In  all  cases  the  pupils  should  carefully  abstain  from  any  gesture  or 
remark,  which  may  tend  to  alarm  the  sick,  or  which  may  be  regarded  by 
them  as  an  expression  of  contempt,  or  of  ridicule.  Likewise  the  pupils 
should  carefully  keep  secret  all  such  facts  respecting  the  patients,  as  these 
would  be  unwilling  to  have  known  to  the  world. 

"  8.  The  pupils  are  invited  to  ask  questions  of  a  practical  nature  relat- 
ing to  the  patients,  being  careful  to  be  out  of  hearing  of  the  patients. 

"  9.  A  Dresser  will  be  appointed  by  the  Surgeon ;  but  will  be  liable 
to  be  removed  for  any  indecorum  or  neglect  of  duty ;  and  with  the  condi- 
tion that  he  do  not  remain  in  the  Hospital  longer  than  his  duties  require. 
The  periods  and  frequency  of  his  attendance  will  be  regulated  by  the 
Surgeon. 

"  10.  The  Superintendant  will  be  requested  to  give  notice  to  the  Physi- 
cian and  Surgeon  of  any  breach  of  these  rules,  which  comes  to  his  knowl- 
edge ;  and  he  will  take  immediate  measures  to  enforce  them,  whenever 
the  good  order  of  the  Hospital  may  render  such  measures  necessary. 
The  byelaws  of  the  Corporation  render  pupils  liable  to  a  dismissal  from 
the    Hospital,    for   any    indecorum    or   immorality. 

"  James  Jackson, 
"John  C.  Warren." 

"Boston,  May,  1824." 

That  all  surgeons  did  not  find  the  appointment  to  a  place 
on  the  Hospital  staff  advantageous  is  evident  from  Edward 
Reynolds's  letter  of  resignation,  March  24,  1829,  in  which 
he  says,  "excepting  to  a  student,  there  is  no  honor  and  no 
profit  in  it."  In  that  year  (1829)  it  became  necessary  to  pass 
rigid  rules  on  account  of  "having  found  that  very  serious  in- 
conveniences and  alarming  consequences  have  arisen  from 
the  manner  in  which  the  examinations  of  subjects  in  the  Hos- 
pital have  been  conducted."     This  was  at  a  critical  time,  and 


584  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

it  seems  to  have  been  a  wise  precaution  to  limit  the  perform- 
ance of  post-mortem  examinations  to  a  few  trusted  officials. 

The  payment  of  a  fee  for  the  privilege  of  attending  lec- 
tures and  operations  at  the  hospital  was  soon  discontinued. 
In  1867  an  attempt  was  made  to  revive  the  custom,  but  it 
failed  with  the  Trustees.  In  June,  1867,  it  was  voted  to 
allow  women  students  the  privileges  of  "medical  visits,"  sub- 
ject however  to  the  discretion  of  the  Visiting  Physician  and 
Surgeon,  individually,  and  then  only  in  separate  classes,  and 
to  the  female  wards  exclusively.  In  1846,  when  the  North 
Grove  Street  School  was  contemplated,  John  C.  Warren  ad- 
dressed a  communication  to  the  Board  of  Trustees  request- 
ing the  views  of  that  body  as  to  the  erection  of  a  Medical 
School  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Hospital.  The  reply  was 
as  follows : 

"  At  a  meeting  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital 
held  February  22,  1846,  it  was 

"  Voted,  on  the  communication  made  to  this  Board  by  Dr.  J.  C.  Warren 
on  behalf  of  the  Professors  of  the  Medical  School  of  Harvard  University ; 
That  ihis  Board  are  sensible  of  the  courtesy  which  dictated  the  com- 
munication, but  in  regard  to  the  subject  of  building  a  Medical  College  in 
immediate  proximity  to  the  grounds  of  the  Hospital,  they  cannot  perceive 
any  advantage  to  this  Institution  to  arise  therefrom ;  but  they  think 
thej'  can  see  that  some  disadvantages  would  be  occasioned  thereby.  In 
stating,  however,  this  opinion  the  Board  do  not  assume  any  right  to  object 
to  the  course  suggested  in  the  communication,  but  intend  simply  to  make 
an  answer  to  the  question  proposed  to  them. 

"  attest,  Marcus  Morton,  Jr. 
"  Secretary  Mass.  Gen.  Hospital." 

It  is  not  necessary  to  follow  the  growth  of  this  Hospital 
further.  One  should  note,  however,  that  in  that  growth  the 
advantages  offered  to  students  have  been  constantly  increased. 
Department  after  department  has  been  established  and  main- 
tained for,  as  well  as  given  in  charge  to,  teachers  at  the 
School,  until  to-day  the  Hospital  and  School  seem  supple- 
mentary  to   each   other.      The   new    Out-patient    Department 


CLINICAL  ADVANTAGES  AT  HARVARD      585 

building,  opened  on  the  fifty-seventh  anniversary  (October  16, 
1903)  of  the  first  public  demonstration  of  ether  calls  for 
special  mention.  One  of  the  conditions  enjoined  by  the  prin- 
cipal donor  of  funds  for  this  building  was  that  the  interests 
of  medical  education  should  be  considered  in  the  outlay  of  his 
gift.  Following  this  stipulation,  lecture-rooms  and  rooms 
for  students'  section  work  were  incorporated  in  the  plans.  The 
structure  is  of  brick  and  stone,  and  is  built  in  the  shape  of 
a  letter  L,  a  plan  which  insures  good  light  in  all  the  rooms. 
The  whole  building  has  been  arranged  in  order  to  give  stu- 
dents the  advantage  of  the  large  amount  of  "clinical  material" 
presenting  itself.  Indeed,  the  new  Department  calls  for  more 
than  passing  notice.  In  itself  it  is  a  great  educational  plant, 
supplementing  the  school  buildings  proper.  The  staff  of  the 
Department  consists  (1904)  of  eighteen  physicians  and  sur- 
geons, who  also  assist  the  visiting  Staff  of  the  Hospital ;  fif- 
teen assistant  physicians  and  surgeons,  beside  externes,  grad- 
uate and  undergraduate  assistants,  matron,  nurses,  clerks,  etc., 
etc. 

The  Massachusetts  General  Hospital  of  today  is  governed 
by  twelve  trustees.  The  Medical  Staff  consists  of  six  Visit- 
ing Physicians,  and  the  Surgical  Staff  of  nine  Visiting  Sur- 
geons and  three  Assistant  Visiting  Surgeons  together  with  one 
Aural  Surgeon  and  four  pathologists.  The  out-patient  de- 
partment has  eighteen  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  and  twenty- 
three  specialists.  Besides  the  four  Resident  Physicians  there 
are  twenty  House  officers.  The  capacity  of  the  hospital  is  265 
beds.  The  number  of  house-patients  in  1903-04  was  5,204, 
while  there  were  25,082  out-patients. 

At  the  McLean  Insane  Hospital,  which  was  removed  to 
Waverly  in  1895  there  were  341  patients  treated  in  1903-04. 
The  Convalescent  Home  is  also  at  Waverly,  a  useful  institu- 
tion. 

Following  the  establishment  of  the  Massachusetts  General 


586  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Hospital,  came  the  Massachusetts  Eye  and  Ear  Infirmary, 
established  1824;  the  Institution  for  the  Blind,  established  in 
1829;  and  the  Boston  Lying-in  Hospital  founded  in  1832. 
This  last  was  the  first  of  its  kind  in  New  England,  and  has 
maintained  a  leading  position  among  similar  hospitals  of  this 
country.  The  funds  for  its  establishment  were  raised  by  sub- 
scription, and  its  first  location  was  at  718  Washington  Street. 
The  first  Resident  Physician  was  Hook,  and  the  Attending 
Physicians  Channing  and  Hale,  the  Consulting  Physicians 
being  Warren,  Bigelow  and  Hayward.  It  is  now  governed 
by  a  board  of  ten  trustees,  and  the  Medical  Staff  is  composed 
of  one  Consulting  Physician,  one  Visiting  Physician,  one  As- 
sistant Visiting  Physician,  and  four  Out-patient  Physicians. 
The  Resident  Staff  are  three  internes  and  six  externes.  In 
1903-04  there  were  over  600  house  patients  and  over  1,600 
out-patients  cared  for  by  this  institution.  It  was  at  this  hos- 
pital that  O.  W.  Holmes  made  that  study  of  puerperal  sepsis 
on  which  he  founded  his  well  known  thesis. 

In  185 1  Elisha  Goodnow  bequeathed  to  the  city  of  Boston 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars  to  found  a  local  hospital.  No 
action  was  taken  upon  the  matter  until  1857,  when  the  mayor 
recommended  the  establishment  of  a  City  Hospital,  transmit- 
ting to  the  city  council  at  the  same  time  a  memorial  from  sev- 
eral physicians,  giving  their  opinions  of  the  necessity  and 
value  of  such  an  institution.  In  the  following  year  the  Legis- 
lature passed  an  Act  authorizing  the  city  to  establish  and 
maintain  "a  hospital  for  the  reception  of  persons  who,  by  mis- 
fortune or  poverty,  may  require  relief  during  temporary  sick- 
ness." In  i860  the  city  authorities  selected  a  site  consisting 
of  about  seven  acres  of  land  reclaimed  from  the  sea,  situated 
in  the  South  End  of  Boston.  The  hospital  was  formallv 
opened  in  1864.  It  is  governed  by  five  trustees,  one  nomi- 
nated each  year  by  the  mayor.  The  staff  consists  of  four  Con- 
sulting Physicians  and  Surgeons,  sixteen  Physicians  and  five 


B  :  - 
Sag 

3  to  ~ 


-. 

0 
H 
SO 


=  25  /- 

H  P*  O  -     j^ 

'     7"-  = 

=  =-  =  " 

c  - :  i.  -  2 
■>  ~  ^  <t  c 

C  .-  3  •     V. 
gt,P 

~'     h-       ^ 


—  —  . 
-:-  = 


:  2/ 

=  =  = 

o  c 


;  j  ■ 

laS? 

»?•? 

2  -  ■ 

fD  -•   r* 

—  5"  r 

2  Wh 


3  / 


p 


— . 

C 

H 


<     K?2  C 


7  E  ft 
&E.8S 


Si    t?t?; 


Sill    Ei 


-.  i  ■" 
-"  2> 

5;? 


Z-  td 
O 

CO 

H 
O 
2 


c  o 


3 

a 


Z 


§3  3 

0  2  *^ 

1  =  < 
L  —  5' 
S"  3" 


H 

k: 

o 

co 

I— I 

H 
> 

r 


z 

3 


SO  S 


P|3 


£  3       P 
Do       ^ 

a- 

-  x     £ 

el 
r-7 

r  = 

- 

EP 


3 

2. 

3 

3 

0 
< 


CLINICAL  ADVANTAGES  AT  HARVARD      587 

Assistant  Physicians,  nine  Surgeons  and  eleven  Assistant  Sur- 
geons, three  Aural  Surgeons,  one  laryngologist,  four  patholo- 
gists, six  neurologists,  three  dermatologists,  seven  opthalmolo- 
gists,  six  gynaecologists,  besides  medical  registrars  and  sur- 
gical registrars.  The  house-staff  consists  of  a  Medical  Su- 
perintendent, a  Resident  Physician,  three  Executive  Medical 
Assistants,  two  Assistant  Physicians,  three  Assistant  Pathol- 
ogists, eleven  House-Physicians  and  Surgeons,  two  clinical 
clerks,  four  surgical  dressers,  eight  externes,  and  two  special 
externes.  The  total  number  of  beds  is  828,  with  an  average 
of  730  occupants.  The  number  of  house  cases  in  1903-04 
was  about  9,000,  the  number  of  out-patient  cases  about  22,000. 
There  are  eight  distinct  out-patient  departments  besides  a 
Convalescent  Home  of  thirty-four  beds  and  a  model  Relief 
Station  in  the  north  end  of  the  city. 

The  House  of  the  Good  Samaritan  was  established  in  i860 
and  the  Children's  Hospital  in  1869.  The  Children's  Hos- 
pital is  governed  by  a  board  of  twelve  managers.  It  has  a 
staff  of  eight  Consulting  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  three  Phy- 
sicians and  three  Assistant  Physicians,  two  Surgeons  and  four 
Assistant  Surgeons,  with  three  junior  Assistant  Surgeons, 
and  ten  specialists.  The  house  is  in  charge  of  one  medical 
and  two  surgical  officers,  and  has  a  capacity  of  one  hundred 
beds. 

In  addition  to  these  hospitals,  clinical  advantages  are 
offered  to  the  students  of  the  Harvard  Medical  School  at  the 
following  places :  Boston  Dispensary ;  The  Infants'  Hos- 
pital, in  the  wards  of  which  are  treated  children  exclusively, 
under  two  years  of  age.  It  has  also  an  out-patient  depart- 
ment with  an  average  yearly  attendance  of  three  thousand 
children.  There  is  also  the  Free  Hospital  for  Women  and 
the  Long  Island  Hospital,  Boston  Harbor,  devoted  almost  en- 
tirely to  the  treatment  of  chronic  cases.  It  has  two  hundred 
and  fifty  beds,  with  an  average  daily  population  of  two  hun- 


588  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

dred  and  twenty.  It  is  said  that  fully  fifty  per  cent  of  the 
deaths  at  this  institution  are  followed  by  autopsy,  and  afford 
abundant  material  for  pathological  study.  Then  there  is  the 
Carney  Hospital,  a  large  and  flourishing  institution  which  may 
some  day  rival  in  size  the  Massachusetts  General. 

From  such  statements  it  may  be  seen  that  the  increase  of 
clinical  advantages  for  Harvard  students  has  been  very  great; 
indeed,  so  far  as  I  can  learn,  the  Harvard  clinic  is  the  largest 
in  this  country.  How  well  the  School  avails  itself  of  these 
advantages,  I  shall  attempt  to  show  later  in  considering  the 
separate  branches  of  medical  study. 


ETHER,  1846. 


ETHER,   1846  591 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

ETHER,    1846. 

The  introduction  of  the  use  of  ether  into  surgical  prac- 
tice in  1846  was  through  no  accident,  nor  was  it  the  re- 
sult of  prolonged  research  and  experiment.  It  came  as  a  sur- 
prise, but  as  a  perfectly  matured  discovery  for  which  many 
had  hoped;  yet  remarkably  few  had  sought  it.  No  great 
scientist  had  wrought  it  out;  no  deep  thinkers  had  prophesied 
it.  It  was,  in  fact,  a  part  of  the  wave  of  world-advance  which 
prevailed  at  the  time.  Everything  felt  the  impulse  of  that 
wave.  New  political  parties  took  life,  and  with  them  de- 
veloped new  conditions  of  old  questions — political  and  social 
— conditions,  many  of  which  were  to  be  settled  finally  among 
us  only  through  the  merciless  sacrifices  of  a  civil  war.  Our 
country  had  doubled  its  population  in  the  first  thirty  years  of 
the  century,*  and  in  the  decade  1830- 1840  the  population  in- 
creased by  4,000,000.  Civilization  kept  pace  with  the  growth. 
An  American  literature  in  some  fashion  was  beginning  ade- 
quately to  supplement  works  of  foreign  authors;  Bancroft, 
Hawthorne,  Emerson,  Holmes,  Longfellow,  Poe,  Prescott 
and  Whittier  were  writing.  Newspapers,  wretched  as  many 
of  them  were,  vied  with  each  other  rapidly  to  spread  news 
through  the  country.  The  introduction  of  the  power-loom 
by  an  alumnus  of  Harvard§  made  possible  the  growth  of 
many  thriving  and  permanent  cities.  The  omnibus  was  giv- 
ing way  to  the  street  car,  the  stage-coach  to  canal  boats  and 

*  Population  of  United  States  in  1830  was  12,866,020. 
§  Francis  Cabot  Lowell,  1793  H.  U. 


592  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

steam  railroads.  Most  important  of  all  was  the  discovery 
by  Morse  in  1844  of  the  magnetic  telegraph,  and  then  fol- 
lowed a  multitude  of  minor  miracles. 

In  medicine  the  speculative  and  dogmatic  philosophies  were 
passing.  The  labors  of  Bichat,  Magendie,  Johannes  Miiller, 
Rokitansky,  Laennec,  and  Louis  were  supplemented  by  those 
of  Claude  Bernard,  Du  Bois-Reymond,  Helmholtz,  Ludwig, 
Virchow  and  others  (names,  names,  alas!  mostly,  to  modern 
readers,  but  names  much  repeated)  resulting  in  the  establish- 
ment of  experimental  physiology  and  pharmacology.  In  such 
a  time,  then,  the  world  learned  suddenly  that  surgical  pain 
had  been  abolished.  It  was  the  fulfilment  of  the  promise  in 
Revelations,  "Neither  shall  there  be  any  more  pain." 

Certain  pain-killing  drugs  had  long  been  known.  Ancient 
history  tells  of  sundry  instances  of  surgery  dene  upon  patients 
under  the  influence  of  opium,  hyoscyamus,  conium,  bella- 
donna, mandrake,  Indian  hemp,  and  other  narcotics — all 
given  to  the  point  of  intoxication,  with  the  hope  that  painless 
surgery  would  result.  Physiology  has  long  since  taught  the 
reason  why  these  means  failed.  Napoleon's  surgeon,  Baron 
Larry,  operated  on  his  half-frozen,  wounded  soldiers,  at  the 
battle  of  Eylau,  and  bore  testimony  that  intense  cold  produced 
partial  insensibility.  But,  like  mesmerism,  hypnotism,  nerve- 
clamping,  and  alcoholic  intoxication,  all  these  lacked  the  sine 
qua  n-on  of  Bigelow's  test, — inevitable,  complete,  and  safe. 
Ether  was  the  first  substance  found  to  fulfill  all  these  condi- 
tions. Remember,  too,  that  in  many  of  the  agents  used  for 
the  prevention  or  relief  of  pain,  the  real  discovery  was  often 
within  view,  that  the  progress  of  surgery  was  retarded  by 
the  want  of  an  anaesthetic,  and,  when  we  picture  the  horrors 
of  those  operations,  we  marvel  at  the  seeming  indifference  of 
the  scientific  world,  to  the  sufferings  of  mankind. 

The  introduction  of  Petit's  tourniquet  in  1718  advanced 
our  art  somewhat  in  the  estimation  of  men,  by  robbing  ampu- 


ETHER,   1846  593 

tations  of  some  of  their  sickening  unsightliness;  yet  the  cen- 
tury was  far  advanced  before  the  old  prejudice  against  sur- 
gery was  mitigated.  Even  in  such  a  brilliant  thinker  and 
disciple  of  surgery  as  John  Hunter  there  were  traces  of  the 
early  prejudice  that  surgery  was  beneath  the  calling  and  dig- 
nity of  the  physician,  on  account  of  the  cruel  nature  of  surgi- 
cal work,  which  he  terms  ''humiliating  examples  of  the  im- 
perfectness  of  the  science."  Robert  Liston,  as  late  as  1844, 
said  of  operative  surgery,  to  his  class  at  the  University  Col- 
lege Hospital,  "This  is  regarded  as  an  inferior  part  of  our 
professional  duties,  and  truly  it  is  so.  The  field  of  operative 
surgery,  though  happily  narrowed,  is  still  extensive."  In  his 
lectures  Liston  paid  special  attention  to  instructing  students 
how  to  give  the  least  pain  in  operating,  especially  in  dividing 
the  skin.  Sir  James  Simpson  relates  how  near  he  came  to 
abandoning  the  study  of  medicine  on  account  of  the  horrors 
of  the  operating  room.  Abernethy  and  Cheselden  dreaded 
every  operation  they  performed,  and  the  latter  is  said  seldom 
to  have  slept  the  night  before  an  operation.  John  C.  Warren 
refers  to  the  sinking  of  heart  he  felt  in  the  distress  of  every 
painful  operation  to  which  no  habit  could  render  him  insen- 
sible. Here  is  a  story  of  Nathan  Smith  which  does  credit 
to  that  great  man's  sensibility;  and  it  can  truly  be  said  that 
the  introduction  of  anaesthesia  has  not  robbed  the  human  sur- 
geon today  of  the  tenderness  and  sympathy  illustrated  by  this 
anecdote : 

''  Before  the  discovery  of  anaesthesia,  surgeons  suffered  in  their  sensi- 
bilities, as  well  as  their  patients.  With  other  pupils  I  accompanied  the 
doctor  to  a  distant  town  to  see  a  capital  operation.  It  was  a  case  to  excite 
commiseration.  The  patient  was  old  enough  to  understand  the  purpose 
in  hand,  but  not  sufficiently  mature  to  perceive  its  necessity.  It  was 
a  chilly  morning,  as  we  sat  by  the  fire,  and  the  doctor  looked  at  the 
patient  at  the  farther  end  of  the  room.  The  lad  was  emaciated  and 
trembling.  Dr.  Smith  was  visibly  affected,  his  eyes  dropped  tears,  and 
his  heart  trembled  as  he  whispered  to  me,  'I  shall  not  do  what  they 
expect!     It  is  a  cruel  business,  and  I  wdl  perform  a   less  severe  operation. 


594  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

in  the  hope  that  it  may  have  the  same  effect.'  On  examination  it  became 
apparent  that  the  severer  operation  (amputation  of  the  thigh)  could  not 
be  avoided.  Before  we  returned  to  the  room,  he  said  to  the  attending 
physician,  'Hall,  you  know  all  about  this  boy's  sufferings;  at  the  moment 
we  begin,  bend  over  and  across  the  bed  to  hide  us  from  his  sight,  and  do 
your  best  to  comfort  him,'  the  tears  still  falling  from  his  eyes.  At  once 
he  became  calm,  the  tremor  left  him,  and  in  less  time  than  while  I  write 
this  period,  the  operation  was  completed,  and  the  patient  recovered." 

Then  there  is  that  striking  picture  so  graphically  sketched 
by  Ashurst  ;*  of  a  physician  of  the  old  days,  himself  the  patient, 
who  speaks: 

"  I  at  once  agreed  to  submit  to  the  operation,  but  asked  a  week  to  pre- 
pare for  it ;  not  with  the  slightest  expectation  that  the  disease  would  take 
a  favorable  turn  in  the  interval,  or  that  the  anticipated  horrors  of  the 
operation  would  become  less  appalling  by  reflection  upon  them,  but  simply 
because  it  was  so  probable  that  the  operation  would  be  followed  by  a  fatal 
issue  that  I  wished  to  prepare  for  death  and  what  lies  beyond  it,  whilst  my 
faculties  were  clear  and  my  emotions  comparatively  undisturbed. 
The  morning  of  the  operation  arrived.  The  operation  was  a  more  tedious 
one  than  some  which  involve  greater  mutilation.  It  involved  cruel  cutting 
through  inflamed  and  morbidly  sensitive  parts,  and  could  not  be  despatched 
by  a  few  strokes  of  the  knife.  .  .  Of  the  agony  it  occasioned  I  will  say 
nothing.  Suffering  as  great  as  I  underwent  cannot  be  expressed  in  words, 
and  thus,  fortunately,  cannot  be  recalled.  The  particular  pangs  are  now 
forgotten  ;  but  the  blank  whirlwind  of  emotion,  the  horror  of  great  dark- 
ness, and  the  sense  of  desertion  by  God  and  man,  bordering  close  upon 
despair,  which  swept  through  my  mind  and  overwhelmed  my  heart,  I  can 
never  forget,  however  gladly  I  would  do  so.  Only  the  wish  to  save  others 
some  of  my  sufferings  makes  me  deliberately  recall  and  confess  the  anguish 
and  humiliation  of  such  a  personal  experience ;  nor  can  I  find  language 
more  sober  and  familiar  than  that  I  have  used  to  express  feelings  which, 
happily  for  us  all,  are  too  rare  as  matters  of  general  experience  to  have 
shaped  into  household  words.  During  the  operation,  in  spite  of  the  pain, 
my  senses  were  preternaturally  acute.  ...  I  watched  all  that  the 
surgeon  did  with  a  facinated  intensity.  I  still  recall  with  unwelcome 
vividness  the  spreading  out  of  the  instruments,  the  twisting  of  the  tourni- 
quet, the  first  incision,  the  fingering  of  the  sawed  bone,  the  sponge  pressed 
on  the  flap,  the  tying  of  the  blood  vessels,  the  stitching  of  the  skin,  and 
the  bloody  dismembered  limb  lying  on  the  floor.     These  are  not  pleasant 

*  Semi-centennial  of  Anesthesia,  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  Octo- 
ber 16,  1896. 


ETHER,   1846  595 

remembrances.  For  a  long  time  they  haunted  me,  and,  though  they  cannot 
bring  back  the  suffering,  they  can  occasion  a  suffering  of  their  own, 
and  be  the  cause  of  a  disquiet  which  favors  neither  mental  nor  bodily 
health." 

Opium  and  alcohol  were  the  two  agents  most  commonly 
used  in  the  days  immediately  preceding  the  introduction  of 
ether.  Dorsey  and  Warren  gave  laudanum,  and  Mott  says, 
"I  was  in  the  habit  of  giving  opiates  freely  before  the  intro- 
duction of  anaesthetics,  both  before  and  after  operations. 
Opium  and  its  preparations  are  the  only  anodynes  well  adapted 
for  surgical  use.  No  substitutes  are  worthy  of  confidence." 
Physick  followed  Richerand's  suggestion,  and  employed  alco- 
hol, pushed  to  the  point  of  intoxication.  The  earliest  period 
at  which  ether  is  distinctly  mentioned  under  that  name  is  by 
Godfrey  in  the  "Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society"  for  1730. 
The  first  scientific  account  of  the  employment  of  hypnotic 
anaesthesia  for  surgical  purposes  is  given  by  Recamier  and 
Baron  de  Potel  about  1821.  Hypnotism  was  recommended 
by  Cloguet  in  1829,  who  removed  a  cancer  of  the  breast, 
without  pain  to  the  patient,  by  its  use. 

Previous  to  the  discovery  of  ether  anaesthesia,  inhalations 
of  various  vapors  had  often  been  employed,  particularly  for 
the  amelioration  of  pulmonary  affections.  Inhalers  had  been 
used  by  Mudge,  Gairdner,  Darwin,  Beddoes  and  Watt. 
Charles  Scuddamore  advocated  the  inhalation  of  iodine  and 
conium  in  phthisis,  and  Sigmond  speaks  of  the  inhalation  of 
stramonium.  The  inhalation  of  ether  itself  was  advocated  for 
phthisis  and  asthma,  accompanied  commonly  by  the  statement 
that  its  use  was  attended  with  much  danger,  and  always  with 
much  uncertainty.  Anthony  Todd  Thomson,  in  the  "London 
Dispensatory"  of  1818,  gives  the  following  summary  of  the 
knowledge  then  extant  upon  the  use  of  ether :  "As  an  anti- 
spasmodic, it  relieves  the  paroxysm  of  spasmodic  asthma, 
whether  it  be  taken   into  the  stomach,  or  its  vapors  only  be 


596  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

inhaled  into  the  lungs.  Much  caution,  however,  is  required  in 
inhaling  the  vapor  of  ether,  as  the  imprudent  inspiration  of 
it  has  produced  lethargic  and  apoplectic  symptoms."  In  his 
"Materia  Medica  and  Therapeutics,"  printed  in  1832,  Thom- 
son does  not  mention  the  inhalation  of  ether,  a  significant 
fact,  showing  that  its  use  had  no  doubt  proved  too  dangerous 
and  uncertain  to  warrant  giving  it  a  place  in  an  authorita- 
tive work. 

Nitrous  oxide  played  a  conspicuous  role  in  the  discovery 
of  surgical  anaesthesia.  It  calls  for  some  mention  here.  At 
the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  Sir  Humphrey  Davy 
wrote  :*  "In  one  instance  when  I  had  a  headache  from  indi- 
gestion, it  was  immediately  removed  by  the  effects  of  a  large 
dose  of  gas  (nitrous  oxide)  .  .  .  though  it  afterwards 
returned,  but  with  much  less  violence.  The  power  of  the 
immediate  operation  of  the  gas  in  removing  intense  physical 
pain  I  had  a  very  good  opportunity  of  ascertaining."  Then 
relating  how  he  relieved  intense  pain  caused  by  the  cutting  of 
a  "wisdom  tooth,"  by  the  inhalation  of  three  large  doses  of 
nitrous  oxide,  he  concludes :  "As  nitrous  oxide,  in  its  exten- 
sive operations,  appears  capable  of  destroying  physical  pain,  it 
may  probably  be  used  with  advantage  during  surgical  opera- 
tions in  which  no  great  effusion  of  blood  takes  place." 

Again,  in  1818,  Faraday  wrote  :§ 

"  When  the  vapor  of  ether  mixed  with  common  air  is  inhaled,  it  pro- 
duces effects  very  similar  to  these  occasioned  by  nitrous  oxide.  .  .  A 
stimulating  effect  is  at  first  perceived  in  the  epiglottis,  but  soon  becomes 
very  much  diminished ;  a  sensation  of  fullness  is  then  generally  felt 
in  the  head,  and  a  succession  of  effects  similar  to  those  produced  by 
nitrous  oxide  .  .  .  It  is  necessary  to  use  caution  in  making  experi- 
ments of  this  kind.  By  the  imprudent  inspiration  of  ether  a  gentleman 
was  thrown  into  a  lethargic  state,  which  continued,  with  occasional  periods 

*  Proceedings  Royal  Society,  1799,  "  Research  on  Nitrous  Oxide  Gas," 

p.  566. 

§"  Journal  of  Arts  and   Sciences,"  No.  VTT,  vol.  IV,  p.   158. 


ETHER,   1846  597 

of  intermission,  for  more  than  thirty  hours,  and  a  great  depression  of 
spirits ;  for  many  days  the  pulse  was  so  much  lowered  that  considerable 
fears  were  entertained  for  his  life." 

Could  any  suggestion  be  more  pregnant,  or  thought  and 
investigation  more  direct  ?  Yet  they  availed  nothing  for  more 
than  twenty-five  years  to  hospital  patients  and  battlefield  mar- 
tyrs. True,  a  few  public  lecturers  like  G.  S.  Colton  went 
about  the  country  giving  popular  exhibitions  of  the  amusing 
effects  produced  by  the  inhalation  of  nitrous-oxide  gas,  and 
"ether  frolics"  became  a  form  of  entertainment.  Here  and 
there,  however,  young  minds  were  leaving  the  paths  so  deeply 
grooved  by  generations  of  routinism,  refusing  to  be  bound 
by  the  superstition  that  pain  was  a  punishment  from  God, 
and  should  be  borne  with  Puritan  fortitude. 

"  Man  yields  to  custom  as  he  bows  to  fate, 

"  In  all  things  ruled, — mind,  body,  and  estate ; 

"tin  pain,  in  sickness,  we  for  cure  apply 

"  To  them  we  know  not,  and  we  know  not  why."  * 

If  we  confine  ourselves  to  those  in  America  who  directed 
their  thoughts  to  the  obliteration  of  pain,  we  deal  with  four 
men : — Crawford  W.  Long,  of  Georgia,  Charles  T.  Jackson 
and  William  T.  G.  Morton,  of  Boston,  and  Horace  Wells,  of 
Hartford,  Connecticut ;  and  all  of  them  merit  our  regard.  I 
do  not  propose  to  take  part  in  the  bitter  old  dispute,  or  dilate 
on  the  partisan  claims,  harsh  denunciations,  and  undignified 
proceedings  of  that  memorable  controversy. 

Let  us  recall  first  the  incidents  which  led  up  to  the  great 
discovery,  rejoicing  that  in  that  achievement  America  repaid 
in  large  part  the  debt  she  owed  to  the  science  and  teachings 
of  the  Old  World.  In  that  accomplishment  there  is  honor  and 
recompense  enough  for  all.  If  we  seem  to  claim  a  large  share 
of  honor  for  our  Alma  Mater,  let  it  be  remembered  that  the 


*  Crabbe  :     "  The  Gentleman  Farmer." 


598  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

scene  of  the  discovery's  birth  was  the  Massachusetts  General 
Hospital,  then,  as  today,  under  the  supervision  of  Harvard 
teachers;  that  it  was  the  Hospital's  conservative  senior  sur- 
geon, a  Harvard  professor,  who  courageously  risked  damage 
to  his  great  reputation  in  acting  sponsor  for  a  drug  the  nature 
of  which  was  then  unknown  to  him;  that  a  junior  surgeon, 
Henry  J.  Bigelow,  a  Harvard  teacher  present  at  the  demon- 
stration, was  the  first  characteristically  to  give  the  world  an 
accurate  scientific  account*  of  this  new  thing  so  long  prayed 
for;  that  one  of  the  principal  claimants  (Charles  T.  Jackson) 
for  the  honor  of  being  the  discoverer  of  etherization  was  grad- 
uated from  Harvard,  while  another  (W.  T.  G.  Morton)  to 
whom  most  writers  assign  the  honor  of  discoverer,  was  a  stu- 
dent in  the  Harvard  School,  while  making  many  of  his  earliest 
experiments  with  ether.  So  Harvard's  record  in  this  ether 
business  is  fittingly  linked  with  that  of  the  introduction  into 
general  use  of  inoculation,  and  of  vaccination, — three  contri- 
butions to  American  science. 

To  our  story :  Crawford  W.  Long  was  born  in  Daniels- 
ville,  Georgia,  on  November  ist,  1815.  He  was  graduated 
M.D.  from  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  in  1839.  He  first 
comes  to  our  notice  as  a  young  practitioner  of  medicine  living 
in  the  village  of  Jefferson,  Jackson  county,  Georgia,  in  the 
year  1842.  On  a  day  in  that  year,  a  party  of  merrymakers 
indulging  in  one  of  the  customary  "ether  frolics,"  pressed  an 
unwilling  negro  lad  into  service.  In  this  case  the  joke  was 
carried  too  far  for  the  peace  of  mind  of  the  principals ;  and, 
taking  alarm  at  the  state  of  unconsciousness  produced  in  the 
boy,  they  hurriedly  sent  for  Long.  Details  of  the  treatment 
applied  are  not  given,  but  it  is  stated  that  the  victim  soon 
regained  consciousness,  none  the  worse  for  the  accident.     Soon 

* "  Insensibility  During   Surgical   Operations  Produced  by  Initiations," 
read  before  Boston  Society  for  Medical  Improvement.  Nov.  9,  1846. 


ETHER,   1846  599 

afterwards  the  young  fellow  who  administered  the  ether  en- 
tered Long's  office  as  a  medical  student,  and  there  awaited 
suitable  opportunity  to  try  the  effects  of  ether  in  a  surgical 
case.  Nothing  further  transpired  so  far  as  the  world  knew 
until  1849,  when  a  paper  appeared  in  the  December  issue  of 
the  "Southern  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal"  in  which  Long 
stated  that  prior  to  1846  he  had  performed  five  surgical  opera- 
tions at  Jefferson,  Georgia,  on  patients  insensible  to  pain  by 
means  of  the  administration  of  sulphuric  ether.  Those  opera- 
tions consisted  of  removing  a  small  encysted  tumor,  half  an 
inch  in  diameter,  from  the  back  of  the  neck  (March  30,  1842)  ; 
a  second  operation  on  the  same  gentleman  for  another  en- 
cysted tumor  of  the  neck  (June  6,  1842)  ;  an  amputation  of 
the  toe  of  a  negro  boy  (July  3,  1842)  ;  removal  of  a  small 
encysted  tumor  of  the  head  (Sept.  9,  1843)  :  anc^  the  amputa- 
tion of  a  ringer  of  a  negro  boy  (Jan.  8th,  1845).  *Long  says  : 
"The  question  will  no  doubt  occur,  why  did  I  not  publish 
the  results  of  my  experiments  in  etherization  soon  after  they 
were  made?  I  was  anxious  before  making  my  publication 
to  try  etherization  in  a  sufficient  number  of  cases  to  fully 
satisfy  my  mind  that  anaesthesia  was  produced  by  the  ether, 
and  was  not  the  effect  of  the  imagination,  or  owing  to  any 
peculiar  insusceptibility  to  pain  in  the  persons  experimented 
on.  ...  I  determined  to  wait  .  .  .  and  see  whether 
any  surgeon  would  present  a  claim  to  having  used  ether  by 
inhalation  in  surgical  operations  prior  to  the  time  it  was  used 
by  me."  Long's  account  seems  to  show  that  he  failed  to 
appreciate  the  immense  significance  of  his  experiment,  and 
that  it  lacked  demonstration  of  certainty  and  safety,  and  even 
completeness  of  anaesthesia  by  the  agent  used. 

Long  presented  his  claim  to  be  the  discoverer  of  painless 

*  R.  M.   Hodges,  M.  D.     "A   Narrative  of  Events  connected   with   the 

introduction  of  Sulphuric  Ether  into  Surgical  Use,"  p.   116. 


600  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

surgery  at  a  meeting  of  the  Georgia  Medical  Society  in  1852, 
and  the  claim  was  vigorously  championed  by  J.  Marion  Sims 
in  the  "Virginia  Medical  Monthly,"  May,  1877.  Little  if  any 
evidence  ever  was  produced  to  show  that  Long's  early  ven- 
tures were  in  any  way  a  benefit  to  science  or  humanity,  and 
certainly  the  world  in  no  way  appeared  to  be  advantaged  by 
his  work. 

On  December  10th,  1844,  G.  S.  Colton  went  to  Hartford, 
Connecticut  for  an  exhibition  of  the  amusing  effects  produced 
by  the  inhalation  of  nitrous  oxide.  Some  few  of  his  specta- 
tors asked  for  a  private  exhibition,  which  was  given  on  the 
following  clay.  At  this  seance  one  of  his  audience  (Samuel 
A.  Cooley)  while  under  the  influence  of  the  gas  had  his  knees 
badly  injured  by  running  against  furniture.  Of  this  he  was 
totally  unconscious,  and  experienced  no  pain. 

In  that  gathering  was  Horace  Wells,  a  dentist,  who  had 
practiced  in  Boston  as  the  partner  of  W.  T.  G.  Morton.  To 
Wells  this  experiment  with  nitrous  oxide  meant  much.  In 
it  he  saw  a  principle  which  in  time  should  mean  a  new  era  in 
tooth-pulling.  He  asked  Colton  to  fill  his  bag  with  the  gas 
and  go  with  him  to  his  (Wells's)  office,  where  he  would  sub- 
mit himself  to  the  experiment  of  extracting  a  tooth  while 
under  the  influence  of  the  gas.  Colton  agreed.  A  brother 
dentist,  John  M.  Riggs,  extracted  an  upper  molar  tooth  from 
Wells,  who  exclaimed,  as  the  effects  of  the  gas  passed  off, 
"It  is  the  greatest  discovery  ever  made;  I  did  not  feel  it  so 
much  as  the  prick  of  a  pin." 

Wells  repeated  the  experiment  on  others  with  great  success. 
He  became  enthusiastic,  and,  placing  his  business  in  the  hands 
of  a  friend,  went  to  Boston  and  sought  an  introduction  to 
J.  C.  Warren.  This  was  in  January,  1845.  Warren  con- 
sented to  a  public  trial  at  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital 
of  nitrous  oxide  as  an  agent  in  producing  painless  dentistry. 
The  test  was  made,  "but  not  with  such  success  as  to  command 


ETHER,   1846  601 

attention."  An  advance  had  been  begun,  however,  and  had 
Wells  been  a  little  more  patient  before  rushing  to  the  public 
with  an  imperfect  appliance,  the  final  discovery  of  anaesthesia 
undoubtedly  would  have  been  credited  to  him.  He  had  the 
principle,  but  not  the  experience  and  skill.  He  returned  to 
Hartford  discouraged,  convinced  that  his  dream  could  not  be 
realized.  Before  the  close  of  the  year  he  abandoned  dentistry, 
and  sailed  for  Europe  on  other  business. 

Thus  far  there  is  nothing  to  show  that  Wells  had  made 
any  new  discovery ;  nothing  to  indicate  that  he  had  ever 
considered  the  employment  of  sulphuric  ether  as  a  surgical 
or  dental  anaesthetic.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  clearly  proven 
that  his  attempt  to  apply  Davy's  suggestion  of  18 18  had 
failed;  that  from  the  time  of  his  failure  at  the  public  demon- 
stration in  January,  1846,  at  the  Massachusetts  General  Hos- 
pital, he  made  no  efforts  to  remedy  his  failure.  During  the 
nine  months  intervening  between  Wells's  failure  and  Mor- 
ton's success  in  the  search  for  an  anaesthetic,  these  two  former 
partners  were  occasionally  seeing  each  other,  and  there  is 
reason  to  believe  that  Wells  knew  of  Morton's  experiments. 
On  October  19th,  three  days  after  Morton's  first  demonstra- 
tion of  the  value  of  sulphuric  ether,  he  wrote  to  his  friend 
Wells.  That  letter  and  its  immediate  answer  state  the  true 
conditions  as  to  the  relative  rights  of  these  two  men  to  the 
honor  of  being  the  discoverer.  Avarice,  passion,  jealousy,  de- 
ceit had  not  yet  entered  into  the  question.  Here  are  the  let- 
ters: 

"  Boston,  Oct.   19.   1846. 
"Friend  Wells: 

"  Dr  Sir:  I  write  to  inform  you  that  I  have  discovered  a  preparation 
by  inhaling  which  a  person  is  thrown  into  sound  sleep.  The  time  required 
to  produce  sleep  is  only  a  few  moments  and  the  time  in  which  persons 
remain  asleep  can  be  regulated  at  pleasure.  While  in  this  state  the  severest 
surgical  or  dental  operations  may  be  performed,  the  patient  not  experi- 
encing the  slightest  pain.  I  have  patented  it  and  am  now  about  sending 
out  agents  to  dispose  of  the  right  to  use  it.     I  will  dispose  of  a  right  to 


602  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

an  individual  to  use  it  in  his  own  practice  alone  or  for  a  town,  country 
or  state.  My  object  in  writing  you  is  to  know  if  you  would  not  like  to 
visit  New  York  and  the  other  cities  and  dispose  of  rights  upon  shares. 
I  have  used  the  compound  in  more  than  one  hundred  &  sixty  (sic)  cases 
in  extracting  teeth  and  I  have  been  invited  to  administer  to  patients  in 
the  Massachusetts  Gen  Hospital  and  have  succeeded  in  every  case.  The 
Professors  Warren  &  Heyward  have  given  me  written  certificates  to  this 
effect.  I  have  administered  it  at  the  Hospital  in  the  presence  of  the 
students  and  physicians,  the  room  for  operations  being  as  full  as  possible. 
For  further  particulars  I  will  refer  you  to  extracts  from  the  daily  Jour- 
nals of  this  city  which  I  forward  to  you 

"  Respecty  yours 

"  Wm.  T.  G.  Morton." 

"Hartford,  Conn.,  Oct.  20,  1846." 
"Dr.  Morton:  Dear  Sir:  Your  letter,  dated  yesterday,  is  just  received; 
and  I  hasten  to  answer  it,  for  fear  you  will  adopt  a  method  in  disposing 
of  your  rights  which  will  defeat  your  object.  Before  you  make  any 
arrangements  whatever,  I  wish  to  see  you.  I  think  I  will  be  in  Boston 
the  first  of  next  week,  probably  Monday  night.  If  the  operation  of  admin- 
istering the  gas  is  not  attended  with  too  much  trouble,  and  will  produce 
the  effect  you  stale,  it  will  undoubtedly  be  a  fortune  to  you;  provided  it  is 
rightly  managed. 

"  Yours  in  haste, 

"H.  Wells." 

Such  letters  stamp  the  two  men. 

Wells  went  on  making  preparations  to  leave  the  country, 

in  the  meantime  giving  his  attention  to  patent  shower-baths, 

picture  selling,  etc.     He  left  behind  for  Morton  the  following 

letter,  however,  which  fails  to  mention  that  he  had  discovered 

anything  other  than  a  principle,  a  fact  we  cannot  afford  to 

overlook : 

"Hartford,  Dec.  10,  1846." 
"Dear  Sir:  Have  just  seen  a  copy  of  your  claim  and  find  that  it  is 
nothing  more  than  what  I  can  prove  priority  of  discovery  by  at  least  18 
months.  When  in  Boston  at  your  room  I  was  well  satisfied  that  the 
principal  ingredient  was  ether,  and  to  all  appearances  it  had  just  the 
effect  of  this  alone  upon  the  patient  to  whom  I  saw  it  administered  in 
your  office,  yet  as  you  claimed  it  to  be  a  compound.  I  supposed  it  must 
be  so.  Now  Dr  I  do  not  think  I  have  been  treated  with  fairness  in 
this  matter,  I  spent  my  time  and  money  to  introduce  this  invention  to  the 
public  nearly  two  years  since,  as  soon  as  Dr.  Jackson  finds  that  the  prin- 


ETHER,   1846  603 

ciple  is  as  I  represented  when  in  Boston,  it  is  immediately  patented.  You 
doubtless  remember  what  I  said  to  the  medical  class  when  I  addressed 
them  in  Boston  nearly  2  years  since  which  was  that  my  discovery  did 
not  consist  in  giving  any  specific  article  to  produce  this  excitement,  but 
that  it  was  the  fact  that  when  this  excitement  was  produced  in  any  manner 
whatever  the  system  became  paralysed.  I  then  cited  as  analagous  cases  the 
man  who  is  drunk,  or  the  man  who  is  much  excited  by  passion  does  not 
suffer  pain  when  wounds  are  inflicted  at  the  time — Now  I  do  not  wish  or 
expect  to  make  any  money  out  of  this  invention,  nor  to  cause  you  to  be  the 
looser,  but  I  have  resolved  to  give  a  history  of  its  introduction,  that  1  may 
have  what  credit  belonges  to  me,  although  it  is  in  my  power  to  invalidate 
your  patent  by  word  yet  so  long  as  we  remain  on  good  terms  1  shall 
not  aim  to  do  it — At  the  time  1  commenced  using  gass  I  had  prepared 
to  use  sulphuric  •ether  entirely  instead  of  nitrous  oxide  gas,  but  Dr.  Marcy 
advised  me  to  desist  from  using  it  as  it  was  more  dangerous  than  nitrous 
oxide  gas.  how  far  I  made  use  of  it  I  have  studiously  avoided  to  say 
anything  about  in  my  address  to  the  public  as  I  am  willing  you  should  be 
rewarded  for  your  perseverance  in  its  introduction  to  general  use.  At 
the  same  time  if  I  had  not  used  a  particle  of  sulphuric  ether  I  doubt  if 
you  can  sustain  your  patent,  inasmuch  as  the  nitrous  oxide  gas  (the  effect 
of  which  is  identical  with  that  of  ether)  has  been  extensively  used  for 
the  same  purpose. 

"  It  is  not  at  all  likely  that  I  shall  ever  make  use  of  any  kind  of  gass, 
nor  do  I  ever  expect  to  receive  any  compensation  for  the  discovery  but 
I  am  fully  resolved  that  the  world  shall  know  that  I  was  the  first  to  dis- 
cover and  make  known  this  great  principle  when  applied  to  surgical 
operations.  The  principle  is  this  that  any  kind  of  stimulating  gass  when 
inhaled  so  paralyses  the  system  that  surgical  operations  may  be  performed 
without  pain,  and  I  shall  lay  no  stress  upon  any  particular  kind  of  stimu- 
lant to  be  used,  as  there  are  various  kinds  which  are  essentially  the  same. 

"  Yours  Truly  tt 

H.  Wells. 

Wells  returned  home  from  Paris  in  March,  1847.  The 
world  was  then  alive  to  the  new  discovery,  and  he  had  already 
laid  claim  to  the  credit  of  it.  'This  claim  was  maintained 
with  vigor.  Later,  every  effort  was  made  to  prove  that  ni- 
trous oxide  was  the  equal  if  not  the  superior  of  sulphuric  ether 
as  a  surgical  anaesthetic,  but  the  latter  held  its  advantage, 
and  this  result  contrihuted  to  Wells's  failure  in  business,  to 
the  unhalancing  of  his  mind,  and  finally  to  his  untimely  death 
on  January  24,   1848.     That  was  at  the  age  of  thirty-three. 


«04  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

after  his  commission  of  extraordinary  acts  which  led  to  his 
arrest,  but  for  which  he  could  not  be  held  responsible.  Wells's 
biographer  says  that  his  condition  at  the  time  of  his  death 
was  "brought  about  by  experimenting  on  himself  to  a  dan- 
gerous extent  with  the  powerful  and  almost  unknown  agent 
chloroform,  of  which  he  had  formed  the  impression  that  it 
was  a  better  agent  than  nitrous-oxide."  Wells  was  volatile, 
ingenious,  enterprising  and  honest ;  and  doubtless  posterity 
owes  him  something  of  a  debt. 

More  or  less  associated  with  Wells  were  Charles  T.  Jack- 
son and  William  T.  G.  Morton.  Wells  visited  Jackson's  lab- 
oratory when  he  came  to-  Boston,  and  it  is  known  that  he  con- 
versed with  Jackson  upon  the  value  of  different  anaesthetics. 
Morton,  as  we  know,  had  been  Wells'  partner  in  dentistry, 
and  had  lived  in  Jackson's  house.  All  this  intimacy  existed 
at  the  time  when  each  is  said  to  have  been  considering  anaes- 
thesia. 

Charles  Thomas  Jackson  was  born  at  Plymouth,  Massachu- 
setts, June  21,  1805,  and  was  graduated  from  the  Harvard 
Medical  School  in  1829.  In  1846  Jackson  was  not  unknown 
to  the  public.  He  had  claimed  the  honor  of  being  the  discov- 
erer of  gun-cotton  and  the  electric  telegraph.  His  tastes  were 
towards  the  sciences  of  chemistry,  geology,  mineralogy,  and 
electricity,  and  he  had  gained  early  a  national  reputation  in 
all.  He  was  a  member  of  many  of  the  scientific  and  literary 
societies  of  the  country,  and  had  a  wide  acquaintance  among 
the  savants  of  the  old  world.  In  Boston  he  was  perhaps  the 
first  scientist  of  his  day,  and  withal  was  a  man  much  sought 
after  in  the  scholarly  as  well  as  in  the  social  gatherings  of 
the  town.  In  1844  Jackson  received  the  young  dentist  Mor- 
ton as  a  medical  student  into  his  family. 

William  Thomas  Green  Morton  was  tern  in  Charlton, 
Worcester  county,  Massachusetts,  August  9,  18 19.  After 
receiving   a   common    school   education   he   went   to    Boston, 


--^^z  7-t^>  cS  t/Ao&frrn— 


ETHER.   1846  605 

where  he  worked  as  a  clerk  and  salesman  in  various  places  of 
business.  Later  he  went  to  Baltimore  and  studied  dentistry 
in  the  College  of  Dental  Surgery.  In  1841-42  he  began  prac- 
tice at  Farmington,  Connecticut.  There  he  met  Horace  Wells, 
an  unusually  skilful  dentist,  then  living  in  Hartford.  A  part- 
nership was  formed  between  the  two,  and  they  moved  to  Bos- 
ton. This  partnership  was  amicably  dissolved  the  next  year 
(1843),  and  Wells  returned  to  Hartford.  Morton  next  opened 
an  office  at  19  Tremont  Street,  then  an  active  medical  centre, 
and  in  March,  1844,  he  entered  his  name  as  a  student  of  med- 
icine in  the  office  of  Charles  T.  Jackson.  During  the  ensuing 
summer  Morton,  with  his  newly  married  wife,  lived  in  the 
family  of  his  preceptor,  fitting  himself  to  enter  the  Harvard 
Medical  School,  where  he  matriculated  in  the  autumn  of 
1844.  Morton  was  never  graduated,  however,  as  the  neces- 
sity for  gaining  a  living  from  his  dental  business,  together 
with  the  attention  he  was  given  to  ether  anaesthesia,  inter- 
rupted his  medical  studies.  He  was  given  the  honorary  de- 
gree of  M.D.  by  Washington  University,  at  Baltimore  in 
1849. 

While  a  student  in  Jackson's  office,  Morton  had  a  patient, 
a  Miss  Parrott,  of  Gloucester,  Massachusetts,  who  wished  to 
have  a  sensitive  tooth  filled.  He  consulted  Jackson,  and  was 
advised  by  him  to  apply  chloric  ether  to  the  gums.  Jackson 
assured  him  that  he  had  himself  used  it  as  tooth-ache  drops 
when  he  practiced  medicine.  Morton  did  as  advised,  and 
the  trial  seems  to  have  been  successful.  This  was  in  July, 
1844.  It  is  important  to  note  exact  dates,  even  days,  as 
we  progress  with  the  story.  Morton  had  now  added  ether 
to  the  list  of  local  anaesthetics,  just  as  Davy  had  tried  nitrous 
oxide  for  general  anaesthesia.  But  Morton  did  not  rest  satis- 
fied ;  he  knew  the  financial  advantage  that  painless  dentistry 
would  be  if  he  could  so  perfect  it.  He  was  a  shrewd  fellow, 
and  was  not  taking  any  chance  of  losing  the  prize,  if  secret- 


006  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

iveness  and  planning  might  help.  Much  of  the  future  wrangle 
and  loss  of  individual  glory  might  have  been  avoided  if  Mor- 
ton had  had  an  appreciation  of  the  true  scientific  spirit;  cer- 
tainly the  discovery  would  have  materialized  earlier  if  he  and 
Jackson  had  united  their  efforts. 

However,  early  in  1846,  Morton  began  a  series  of  ether 
experiments  upon  fish,  dogs,  and  other  animals.  He  gave  up 
his  medical  studies  and  placed  his  office  in  charge  of  a  col- 
league (June,  1846),  so  that  he  might  devote  his  whole  time 
to  research.  This  date  is  important,  as  he  then  gave  to  his 
attorney,  Richard  H.  Dana,  Jr.,  the  first  intimation  of  his 
purpose.  The  knowledge  was  imparted  during  the  drawing 
up  of  articles  of  partnership  between  himself  and  Greenville 
G.  Hayden,  by  which  arrangement  the  latter  was  to  conduct 
his  dental  business.  Morton  went  on  during  that  summer 
riding  his  "hobby."  He  bought  ether  in  small  quantities  from 
one  druggist,*  and  discussed  the  nature  of  ether  with  an- 
other ;f  gaining  from  the  latter  all  the  information  then  avail- 
able in  the  trade.  He  visited  an  instrument  maker§  and 
learned  a  satisfactory  method  of  adminstering  sulphuric  ether. 
He  went  so  far  as  to  prophesy  to  Gould,  "I  will  have  some 
way  yet  by  which  I  will  perform  my  operations  without  pain." 
Gould  smiled  incredulously  and  replied,  "If  he  could  effect 
that,  he  would  do  mere  than  human  wisdom  had  yet  done,  or 
than  I  expect  it  would  ever  do." 

Morton  listened  to  Jackson's  frequent  and  protracted  expo- 
sition of  the  latter's  claim  to  the  invention  of  the  electric 
telegraph,  yet,  although  living  in  his  family,  no  mention  was 
ever  made  of  the  question  upon  which  his  own  brain  and  ener- 
were  centered,  and  upon  which  Jackson's  well  stored 
mind  would  have  been  of  inestimable  value.  Thus  matters 
stood  up  to  September  30,   1846,  as   far  as  Morton   is  con- 

*  Joseph  Burnett.        t  Theodore   Mctcalf.         §  Joseph   M.   Wightman. 


ETHER,   1846  607 

cerned;  and,  as  far  as  the  world  then  knew,  such  is  a  fair 
statement  of  the  position  until  then  taken  by  Jackson.  This 
date  marks  the  parting  of  the  ways  which  resulted  in  a  con- 
troversy upon  which  the  third  generation  even  is  divided.  All 
accounts  agree  that  a  very  important  interview  was  briefly  as 
follows : 

On  September  30th,  1846,  Morton  went  to  the  laboratory  of 
Jackson  and  took  from  a  closet  an  India-rubber  gas-bag.  In 
reply  to  Jackson's  inquiry,  Morton  said  that  he  had  a  refrac- 
tory patient  who  needed  to  have  teeth  extracted,  and  it  was 
his  intention  to  have  the  patient  inhale  pure  air.  By  this 
means  he  hoped  to  produce  anaesthesia,  by  convincing  the 
patient  that  some  new  agent  was  being  employed  in  the  bag. 
A  conversation  ensued  upon  the  effects  of  the  imagination, 
as  well  as  on  the  properties  of  nitrous  oxide  in  producing  in- 
sensibility. Jackson  told  Morton  to  try  sulphuric  ether,  as 
that  would  produce  the  insensibility  desired.  The  ether  was 
to  be  spattered  on  a  handkerchief  and  inhaled,  and  in  a  mo- 
ment or  two  perfect  insensibility  would  be  produced. 

"Sulphuric  ether,"  said  Morton,  "what  is  that?  Is  it  gas? 
Show  it  to  me." 

Jackson  showed  him  some  ether,  illustrated  with  a  dry 
folded  towel  how  to  inhale  it,  and  assured  Morton  that  it 
would  not  do  any  harm.  "College  and  school-boys  often 
amuse  themselves  by  breathing  it,  and  I  have  tried  it  my- 
self." Morton's  pretended  ignorance  no  doubt  deceived  Jack- 
son. He  obtained  a  bottle  of  ether  at  Burnett's  pharmacy, 
went  home,  and  administered  to  himself,  instead  of  to  the 
mythical  patient  he  had  pictured  to  Jackson,  a  strong  dose  of 
the  ether  vapor. 

He  says:  "1  looked  at  my  watch,  and  soon  lost  conscious- 
ness. As  I  recovered,  I  felt  a  numbness  in  my  limbs,  with  a 
sensation  like  nightmare;  and  1  would  have  given  the  world 
for  somebody  to  come  and  arouse  me.     I  thought    for  a  mo 


608  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

ment  I  should  die  on  the  spot  in  that  state,  and  the  world 
would  only  pity  or  ridicule  my  folly.  At  length  I  felt  a  slight 
tingling  «of  the  blood  in  the  end  of  my  third  finger,  and  made 
an  effort  to  touch  it  with  my  thumb  but  without  success ;  at 
a  second  effort  I  touched  it,  but  there  seemed  to  be  no  sensa- 
tion. I  attempted  to  rise  from  my  chair,  but  fell  back.  Grad- 
ually I  regained  power  over  my  limbs  and  full  consciousness. 
I  immediately  looked  at  my  watch,  and  found  that  I  had  been 
insensible  between  seven  and  eight  minutes." 

Now  he  was  ready  for  a  patient  upon  whom  to<  try  the 
ether.  Fortune  favored  him,  for  that  very  night  a  stout, 
healthy  man,  Eben  H.  Frost,  came  to  his  office  for  the  extrac- 
tion of  a  very  painful  tooth.  He  asked  that  mesmerism  be 
tried,  but  on  being  assured  by  Morton  that  he  possessed  some- 
thing better  than  mesmerism  to  allay  pain  in  the  extraction 
of  teeth,  the  patient  consented  to  its  use.  A  folded  towel  was 
saturated  with  ether  and  held  to  the  patient's  mouth  and  nose 
until  primary  anaesthesia  was  produced.  A  deeply  adherent 
bicuspid  tooth  was  quickly  extracted,  and  so  pleased  was 
Frost  with  the  success  of  the  operation  that  he  wrote  the  fol- 
lowing certificate : 

"  This  is  to  certify  that  I  applied  to  Dr.  Morton  this  evening  at  eight 

o'clock,    suffering   under   the   most   violent   tooth-ache;    that    Dr.    Morton 

took  out   his   handkerchief,  saturated  it   with   a  preparation  of  his,  from 

which   I   breathed  about  half  a   minute,  and  then   was  lost  in  sleep.     In 

an  instant  more  T  awoke,  and  saw  my  tooth  lying  on  the  floor.    I  did  not 

experience  the  slightest  pain  whatever.     I  remained  twenty  minutes  in  his 

office  afterward,  and  felt  no  unpleasant  effects  from  the  operation. 

"  Eben  H.  Frost." 
"  Boston,  42  Prince  Street,  Sept.  30,  1846. 

"  We  witnessed  the  above  operation,  and  the  statement  is  in  all  respects 

correct.     And,  what  is  more,  the  man  asked  where  his  tooth  was,  or  if  it 

was  out  "  A.  G.  Tenney,  Journal  Office. 

"  G.  G.  Hayden,  Surgeon  Dentist." 

The  foregoing  certificate  was  duly  advertised  in  the  news- 
papers with  an  apparently  prearranged  accuracy.     Morton  re- 


ETHER,   1846  609 

ported  to  Jackson  the  success  of  his  experiment  of  the  evening 
previous,  and  asked  for  a  certificate  that  the  vapor  might  be 
inhaled  with  safety.  This  Jackson  would  not  give,  arguing 
that  one  successful  etherization,  especially  for  a  mere  tooth 
extraction,  would  not  be  considered  by  the  community  satis- 
factory proof  of  safety.  A  public  demonstration  before  com- 
petent witnesses  should  be  given. 

Naturally  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital  was  the  one 
place  in  Boston  where  such  a  test  was  possible.  Morton  hesi- 
tated. He  recalled  Wells's  experience,  but  above  all  he  feared 
that  the  odor  of  the  ether  would  betray  its  nature,  and  he 
would  thereby  loose  all  financial  remuneration  from  it  as  a 
secret  compound.  Jackson  again  came  to  his  assistance,  and 
assured  him  that  the  odor  of  ether  could  be  effectually  dis- 
guised by  the  addition  of  French  Essence. 

Thus  fortified,  Morton  called  on  John  C.  Warren  and  made 
known  to  him  the  result  of  his  operation  on  Frost.  He  asked 
for  an  opportunity  to  demonstrate  the  value  of  his  discovery, 
at  the  same  time  he  cautiously  withheld  from  the  surgeon  the 
nature  of  the  anaesthetic.  Warren  was  interested,  and  prom- 
ized  to  give  the  new  remedy  a  trial  on  the  first  suitable  surgical 
patient  presenting  himself  at  the  Massachusetts  General  Hos- 
pital. 

The  question  whether  Morton  was  the  assistant  of  Jackson, 
or  the  principal  himself,  in  this  visit  to  Warren  has  been  one 
of  the  leading  "points"  in  the  ether  controversy.  Jackson's 
contention  will  be  given  later.  It  is  interesting  to  note  here 
that  Warren  says,*  "Dr.  Jackson  has  also  stated  to  me  that 
he  advised  Mr.  Morton  to  apply  to  me  to  use  it  in  a  surgical 
operation." 

On  the  morning  of  October  13,  1846,  Gilbert  Abbott,  aged 
twentv   years,   by  occupation   a  painter,   tall,   thin,    and   of   a 

*  "  Life  of  John  C.  Warren."  vol.  I  ;  Biographical  Notes,  page  386. 


610  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

tubercular  heredity,  came  to  the  hospital  for  an  operation  for 
the  removal  of  a  "birth-mark"  on  the  neck.  Warren  was  on 
duty,  and,  remembering  his  promise  to  Morton,  he  explained 
the  situation  to  Abbott  and  proposed  that  he  submit  himself 
to  the  novel  treatment.  The  class  of  medical  students  knew 
Warren's  comparative  ignorance  of  what  was  proposed,  and 
all  curiously  awaited  the  trial.  On  Wednesday,  October  14th, 
Morton  received  the  following  note : 

"  Dear  Sir :  I  write  at  the  request  of  Dr.  J.  C.  Warren,  to  invite  you  to 
be  present  on  Friday  morning,  at  ten  o'clock,  to  administer  to  a  patient, 
then  to  be  operated  on,  the  preparation  which  you  have  invented  to  dimin- 
ish the  sensibility   to  pain. 

Yours  respectfully 

"  C.  F.  Heywood, 
"  House  Surgeon  to  the  M.  G.  H." 

The  question  of  a  proper  inhaler  troubled  Morton,  and 
came  near  defeating  the  plan.  Jackson  advised  a  large  glass 
flask  with  a  bent  tube  three  feet  long.  Mr.  Wightman  sub- 
stituted a  glass  funnel  for  the  tube.  Both  appliances  made  no 
provision  for  avoiding  the  inhalation  of  the  expired  air.  Gould 
sketched  an  inhaler  consisting  of  a  glass  globe  with  two  necks, 
one  of  which  was  stopped  with  a  cork,  along  the  side  of  which 
deep  grooves  were  cut  to  admit  air  freely  into  the  globe,  and 
thus  mix  with  the  vapor  from  an  ether  sponge  placed  inside, 
while  on  the  other  neck  of  the  flask  a  tube  was  attached,  con- 
taining a  vale  which  was  opened  by  the  patient's  inspiration, 
and  closed  again  by  his  succeeding  expiration.  Morton  went 
to  N.  B.  Chamberlain,  an  instrument  maker,  at  four  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  and  although  he  was  unable  fully  to  complete 
the  flask  in  the  few  hours  allowed  him,  he  had  the  apparatus 
fit  for  use  by  ten  o'clock.  So  Morton  was  able  to  reach  the 
hospital  within  fifteen  minutes  beyond  the  appointed  hour. 
He  was  accompanied  by  Frost,  the  hero  of  the  tooth  pulling 
exhibition  of  September  30th. 


■     ■■■ 


ETHER,   1846  611 

The  following  description  of  the  first  public  operation  under 
ether  is  from  an  account  furnished  by  an  eye-witness  :* 

"  The  day  arrived ;  the  time  appointed  was  noted  on  the  dial,  when  the 
patient  was  led  into  the  operating-room,  and  Dr.  Warren,  with  a  board 
of  the  most  eminent  surgeons  in  the  State  were  gathered  around  the 
sufferer.  '  All  is  ready — the  stillness  oppressive.'  It  had  been  announced 
'  that  a  test  of  some  preparation  was  to  be  made,  for  which  the  astonishing 
claim  had  been  made,  that  it  would  render  the  person  operated  upon  free 
from  pain.'  Those  present  were  incredulous,  and  as  Dr.  Morton  had  not 
arrived  at  the  time  appointed,  and  fifteen  minutes  had  passed,  Dr.  Warren 
said,  with  significant  meaning,  '  I  presume  he  is  otherwise  engaged.'  This 
was  followed  with  a  '  derisive  laugh,'  and  Dr.  Warren  grasped  his  knife 
and  was  about  to  proceed  with  the  operation ;  at  that  moment  Dr.  Morton 
entered  a  side  door,  when  Dr.  Warren  turned  to  him,  and  in  a  strong 
voice  said,  '  Well,  Sir,  your  patient  is  ready.'  In  a  few  minutes  he  was 
ready  for  the  surgeon's  knife,  when  Dr.  Morton  said,  '  your  patient  is 
ready,   Sir.' 

"  The  operation  was  for  a  congenital  tumor  on  the  left  side  of  the  neck, 
extending  along  the  jaw  to  the  maxillary  gland  and  into  the  mouth, 
embracing  the  margin  of  the  tongue.  The  operation  was  successful ;  and 
when  the  patient  recovered  he  declared  he  had  suffered  no  pain.  Dr. 
Warren  then  turned  to  those  present  and  said,  '  Gentlemen,  this  is  no 
humbug.'     '  The  conquest  of  pain  had  been  achieved.'  " 

The  first  demonstration  was  undoubtedly  an  imperfect 
etherization,  yet  so  successful  had  been  the  result  that  Henry 
J.  Bigelow  remarked,  as  he  left  the  hospital,  "I  have  seen 
something  to-day  which  will  go  around  the  world."  But  Bige- 
low was  a  genius.  A  further  test  was  made  on  the  following 
day,  in  the  case  of  a  woman  who  came  as  an  out-patient,  with 
a  fatty  tumor  on  the  right  shoulder.  George  Hayward  oper- 
ated on  her.  The  task  occupied  seven  minutes,  and  at  no 
time  did  the  patient  give  the  slightest  sign  of  sensation.  The 
next  operation  under  ether,  at  the  Hospital,  did  not  take  place 
until  November  7,  1846. 

Warren  believed  at  firstf  that  the  insensibility  was  due  to 

*  Dr.  Washington  Ayei,  of  San  Francisco,  published  in  tin-  "Occidental 
Medical  Times,"  March,   1896. 

f  Subsequently  changed  his  opinion. 


61'2  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

asphyxia,  an  opinion  somewhat  justified  by  the  method  df 
inhalation  employed,  as  well  as  by  the  dark  color  of  the  blood 
of  many  patients  improperly  under  ether. 

Morton  went  on  experimenting,  giving  ether  for  private 
operations  here  and  there.  He  had  won  the  confidence  and  co- 
operation of  Henry  J.  Bigelow,  through  whose  good  offices 
he  was  again  permitted  to  appear  at  the  Massachusetts  Gen- 
eral Hospital  on  November  7th.  At  one  of  the  private  oper- 
ations done  by  Dix,  in  the  interim,  Bigelow  made  the  impor- 
tant discovery  that  the  pulse  was  the  true  guide  as  between 
safety  and  danger  in  the  use  of  ether.  A  great  deal  of  credit 
is  due  to  Bigelow  for  his  persistent  efforts  to  have  the  sur- 
geons at  the  hospital  give  the  new  discovery  their  endorse- 
ment ;  and  he  was  himself  qualified  both  by  education  and  per- 
sonal experience  to  give  to  the  world  an  account  of  the  dis- 
covery. This  he  did  November  3,  1846,  at  a  meeting  of  the 
American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences  in  Boston.*  This 
was  the  first  formal,  public  declaration  that  a  safe  and  unfail- 
ing method  of  destroying  pain  had  been  discovered. 

That  first  account  makes  good  reading  to-day,  and  is  a 
witness  to  Bigelow's  ability.  Then  he  sent  an  account  of  the 
discovery  to  his  friend  Francis  Boott§,  a  retired  Boston  phy- 
sician, living  in  London.  Boott  communicated  his  informa- 
tion to  Liston,  who  introduced  ether  at  once  into'  the  London 
hospitals.  On  December  21,  1846,  Liston  amputated  a  thigh, 
and  did  an  evulsion  of  the  great  toe  nail,  both  "without  the 
patients  being  aware  of  what  was  going  on,  so  far  as  regards 
pain."  Liston's  enthusiasm  over  these  performances  found 
articulate  voice:  "Hurrah!  Rejoice!  An  American  dentist 
has  used  ether — inhalations  of  it — to  destroy  sensations  in  his 

*  Read  before  the  Boston  Society  for  Medical  Improvement,  Nov.  o, 
1846.     Published  in  "  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal."  Nov.  18,  1846. 

§  Francis  Boott,  A.  M.,  1814;  M.  D.  Edin.  1824;  Fellow  Linnaean  Soc. 
London,  and  Amr.  Acad.     Died  1863. 


ETHER,   1846  613 

operations,  and  the  plan  has  succeeded  in  the  hands  of  Hay- 
ward,  Warren,  and  others  in  Boston.  In  six  months  no  oper- 
ation will  be  performed  without  this  previous  preparation. 
Rejoice!"'  The  news  quickly  spread  throughout  Europe,  and 
before  the  end  of  January,  1847,  tne  "great  American  discov- 
ery" was  a  world-wide  topic  of  discussion.  The  anaesthetic 
agent  was  first  called  "letheon,"  a  name  decided  upon  by  a 
meeting  of  interested  men,  Bigelow,  Holmes  and  Morton  at 
the  house  of  Gould ;  the  name,  however,  did  not  suit  Holmes, 
who  wrote  to  Morton  : 

"  Boston,   Nov.   21,    1846. 

"My  Dear  Sir:  Everybody  wants  to  have  a  hand  in  the  great  discovery. 
All  I  will  do  is  to  give  yon  a  hint  or  two  as  to  names,  or  the  name,  to 
be  applied  to  the  state  produced,  and  to  the  agent. 

"  The  state  should,  I  think,  be  called  anaesthesia.  This  signifies  insensi- 
bility, more  particularly  (as  used  by  Linnaeus  and  Cullen)  to  objects  of 
touch.  The  adjective  will  be  anaesthetic.  Thus  we  might  say,  the  'state 
of  anaesthesia,'  or  the  '  anaesthetic  state.'  The  means  employed  would 
be  properly  called  the  '  anti-aesthetic  agent.'  Perhaps  it  might  be  allow- 
able to  say  '  anaesthetic  agent ; '    but  this  admits  of  question. 

"  The  words  anti-neuric ,  aneuric,  neuro-lcptic,  ncuro-Iepsia.  ncuro-stasis, 
seem  too  anatomical ;  whereas  the  change  is  a  physiological  one.  I  throw 
these  out  for  consideration. 

"  I  would  have  a  name  pretty  soon,  and  consult  some  accomplished 
scholar,  such  as  President  Everett,  or  Dr.  Bigelow,  Sr.,  before  fixing  upon 
the  terms  which  will  be  repeated  by  the  tongues  of  every  civilized  race 
of  mankind.  You  could  mention  these  words  which  I  suggest,  for  their 
consideration  ;    but  there  may  be  others  more  appropriate  and  agreeable. 

"  Yours  respectfully, 

"  O.  W.  Holmes/' 

Here  might  end  the  history  of  that  discovery,  America's 
greatest  contribution  to  medical  science,  equal  perhaps  to  the 
contribution  of  any  age  and  of  any  country.  Pain,  and  with 
it  the  horror  of  anticipation,  has  now  vanished;  mental  shock 
and  the  old  traumatic  surgery  no  longer  exist;  the  surgeon 
has  no  need  for  hurry,  for  nerve-racking  sympathy,  for 
doubt,  or  expediency;  all  is  now  calm  in  the  operating  room; 
the  patient  is  motionless,   free  from   sensibility;   the   surgeon 


QU  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

can  act  with  judgment,  weigh  consequences,  invoke  aid  from 
consultants;  operations  are  no  longer  the  last  resort,  but  are 
often  an  early  choice,  with  increasing  possibilities  of  relief 
and  cure;  all  modern  surgery,  one  of  the  glories  of  our  age, 
takes  its  birth  from  the  discovery  of  surgical  anaesthesia.  In 
this  result  nothing  perhaps  exceeds  in  the  extent  of  importance 
the  relationship  between  anaesthesia  and  asepsis ;  without  the 
former  the  latter  would  be  largely  futile.  The  two  are  in- 
separably linked,  forming  the  keystone  upon  which  the  science 
and  art  of  surgery  must  depend. 

The  story  of  ether,  like  that  of  most  great  discoveries,  is 
one  of  incredulity,  hostility,  and  controversy.  The  former 
two  sentiments  have  long  since  passed  away;  the  last  is  wont 
to  arise  whenever  the  subject  of  the  discoverer  of  etherization 
is  broached.  In  the  remaining  pages  of  this  chapter  let  us  re- 
view the  conclusions  reached  by  different  tribunals  contem- 
porary with  the  events. 

The  key  to  the  controversy  unquestionably  lay  in  the  desire 
of  Morton  to  turn  the  discovery  into  money.  On  the  29th  of 
October,  1846,  he  applied  for  a  patent.  Jackson,  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society,  refused  at  first  to 
join  in  such  a  proceeding,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  not  good 
ethics.  He  preferred  to  charge  Morton  a  fee  of  five  hundred 
dollars  for  professional  advice,  and  then  Morton  was  to  do 
as  he  pleased.  As  an  afterthought,  or,  as  he  says,*  "to  estab- 
lish legally  my  rights  as  the  author  of  the  discovery,  and  to 
enable  me  to  give  my  rights  to  others  that  they  might  make 
use  of  my  method,"  Jackson  agreed  to  join  Morton  in  the 
application  for  a  patent.  This  patent  was  issued  November  12, 
and  Jackson  agreed  to  assign  all  his  interest  in  the  invention 
or  discovery  in  consideration  of  a  ten  per  cent  income  from 

*"A  Manual  of  Etherization,  etc.,"  by  Charles  T.  Jackson,  M.  D., 
F.  G.  S.  F..  page  53. 


ETHER.   1846  615 

the  proceeds  on  all  sales  of  licenses.  Later  he  demanded 
twenty-five  per  cent.  Both  demands  were  refused,  and  there- 
upon followed  the  controversy.  Here  is  a  letter  from  Mor- 
ton: 

"  19  Tremont  St.,  Boston,  Dec.  14,  1846." 
"  To  the  President  and  Trustees  of  the  Massachusetts  General 
Hospital  : 
"  Gentlemen, — Most,  if  not  all  of  you,  may  be  aware  that  I  have,  both 
privately  and  publicly,  declared  that  it  is  not  my  intention  or  desire  to 
receive  from  benevolent  infirmaries,  nor  from  persons  in  destitute  circum- 
stances, any  compensation  for  the  employment  of  the  new  discovery 
whereby  pain  may  be  prevented,  or  alleviated,  in  surgical  operations. 
Long  convinced  of  the  excellence  of  the  charitable  establishment  over 
which  you  preside,  and  of  its  great  and  increasing  importance  in  the  service 
of  humanity,  I  beg  leave  to  respectfully  inform  you  that  I  shall  be  happy 
to  present  to  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  if  it  be  agreeable  for 
the  President  and  Trustees  to  accept  the  same,  the  fullest  right,  under  the 
letters  patent  granted  to  me  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
to  use  the  discovery  above  mentioned  for  the  benefit  of  indigent  patients, 
the  sick  and  suffering  poor,  and  other  persons  at  the  institution. 
"  With  great  respect,  I  am,  gentlemen, 

"  Your  most  obedient  servant, 

"  W.  T.  G.  Morton." 

For  the  benefit  of  the  curious  I  append  a  list  of  more  than 
sixty  addresses,  reports,  medical- journal  and  newspaper  ar- 
ticles. I  can  assure  such  persons  that  they  will  rise  from 
such  studies  with  feelings  of  utter  disappointment,  if  not 
actual  chagrin.  Sundry  most  respectable  persons  are  dragged 
into  the  witness-box  and  made  to  contradict  each  other.  The 
King  of  Prussia  and  the  French  Academy  of  Sciences  became 
involved  in  the  controversy ;  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
was  petitioned,  and  the  Supreme  Court  invoked ;  the  American 
Medical  Association  became  a  partisan,  and  the  Massachusetts 
General  Hospital  Trustees  furnished  a  testimonial.  Finally, 
after  twenty-five  years,  a  monument  was  dedicated,  almost 
within  sight  of  the  scene  of  the  discovery,  to  commemorate 


616  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

the  event,  yet  it  fails  to  name  the  discoverer.*  Since  1846 
two  generations  have  come.  Nearly  all  those  who  were  active 
participants  in  the  events  of  the  ether  discovery  and  its  con- 
troversy are  now  dead.  The  following  physicians,  still  living 
(1905),  were  present  at  the  first  surgical  operation  under 
anesthesia,  October  16,  1846,  Massachusetts  General  Hos- 
pital :  Robert  Thompson  Davis,  M.  D.,  '47,  Fall  River,  Mass. ; 
Tappan  Eustis  Francis,  A.  B.,  '44,  M.  D.,  '47,  Brookline, 
Mass. ;  Benjamin  Shurtleff,  M.  D.,  '48,  Napa,  Cal. ;  Isaac 
Francis  Galloupe,  M.  D.,  '49,  Lynn,  Mass. 

The  semi-centennial  of  the  birth  of  anaesthesia  came  in  our 
day.§  Nine  years  ago  the  Bigelow  amphitheatref  at  the  Mas- 
sachusetts General  Hospital  was  crowded  as  was  Warren's 
operating  room  in  1846.  This  time,  however,  the  benches 
formerly  filled  by  those  ancient  students  were  crowded  by 
representatives  of  the  whole  scientific  world.  By  those  men 
Morton's  name  alone  was  rehearsed.  We  have  lived  to  see 
fulfilled  the  prophetic  words  of  the  venerable  Jacob  Bigelow, 
"The  suffering  and  now  exempted  world  have  not  forgotten 
the  poor  dentist  who,  amid  poverty,  privation,  and  discour- 
agement, matured  and  established  the  most  beneficial  dis- 
covery which  has  blessed  humanity  since  the  primeval  days  of 
Paradise". 

Briefly,  then,  the  steps  leading  up  to  this  tardy  verdict  are 
as  follows :  The  fourteen  years'  patent  secured  by  Morton 
was  soon  found  to  be  worthless.  Jackson  then  appeared  in  a 
new  role.  He  repudiated  the  contract  and  claimed  the  dis- 
covery as  his  own.  His  first  contention  was  priority,  and  he 
used  these  words :% 

*  Said  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes :     "  Inscribe  it  to  Either." 

§  Semi-centennial  of  Anaesthesia,  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  Bos- 
Ion,  Oct.  16,  1896. 

t  Now  the  "  Zander  room.'' 

X "  A  Manual  of  Etherization,  etc.,"  By  Chas.  T.  Jackson,  M.  D., 
F.  G.  S.  F.,  1861.     Part  of  a  letter  sent  to  Von  Haemboldt  in  1851. 


afrufr-r-^ 


rOMMI£MOK.\TIOM 


iiitc: 


^ 


Jk 


Or) 


*  _>w  ^///  Qrulxuc  rJje-mon  ftivfroti^J 
HP        .     /r)c/l        'a Mr. 
0/  r0)  ucqical  v^/inac •The  ur^ 

//V  , /J     cftntfw  J     J/)  , 


%jton  OcUer  7&W4G. 


r/t   ~> 


<  I ne<jy\pnouc"  of  ifotwCqmpa/nifis  rcciucffcd 


\Jor  tlfeJrujtcej 


fytk/}.  (  J  r: 
Jorlln  <?%ff 


& 


I 


-  "^^^  :---r>i-^—        ■^"^r-^r 


Reduced  facsimile  of  invitation  to  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the 
First  Public  Demonstration  of  Surgical  Anesthesia 

at  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital. 


ETHER,   1846  617 

"The  circumstances  were  as  follows:  In  the  winter  of  1841-2  I  was 
employed  in  giving  a  few  lectures  before  the  Mechanics'  Charitable  Asso- 
ciation in  Boston,  and  in  my  last  lecture,  which  I  think  was  in  the  month 
of  February,  I  had  occasion  to  show  a  number  of  experiments  in  illus- 
tration of  the  theory  of  volcanic  eruptions,  and  for  these  experiments  I 
prepared  a  large  quantity  of  chlorine  gas,  collecting  it  in  gallon  glass 
jars  over  boiling  water.  Just  as  one  of  these  large  jars  was  filled  with 
pure  chlorine  it  overturned  and  broke,  and,  in  my  endeavors  to  save  the 
vessel,  I  accidentally  got  my  lungs  full  of  chlorine  gas,  which  nearly  suffo- 
cated me,  so  that  my  life  was  in  imminent  danger.  I  immediately  had 
ether  and  ammonia  brought,  and  alternately  inhaled  them  with  great 
relief. 

'  The  next  morning  my  throat  was  severely  inflamed,  and  very  painful, 
and  I  perceived  a  distinct  flavor  of  chlorine  in  my  breath  and  my  lungs 
were  still  much  oppressed.  1  determined  therefore  to  make  a  more  thor- 
ough trial  of  ether  vapor,  and  for  that  purpose  went  into  my  laboratory, 
which  adjoined  my  house  in  Somerset  Street,  and  made  the  experiment 
from  which  the  discovery  of  anaesthesia  was  deduced.  I  had  a  large 
supply  of  perfectly  pure  washed  sulphuric  ether  (oxide  of  ethyle),  which 
was  prepared  in  the  laboratory  of  my  friend  Mr.  John  H.  Blake,  of  Boston. 
I  took  a  bottle  of  that  ether  and  a  folded  towel,  and  having  seated  myself 
in  a  rocking-chair,  placed  my  feet  in  another  chair  so  as  to  secure  a  fixed 
position  as  I  reclined  in  the  one  in  which  I  was  seated.  Soaking  my 
towel  in  ether  I  placed  it  over  my  nose  and  mouth,  so  as  to  allow  me 
to  inhale  the  ether  vapor  mingled  with  air,  and  began  to  inhale  the 
vapor  deeply  into  my  lungs.  At  first  it  made  me  cough,  but  soon  that  irri- 
tability ceased,  and  I  noticed  a  sense  of  coolness  followed  by  warmth, 
fullness  of  the  head  and  chest,  with  giddiness  and  exhilaration,  numbness 
of  the  feet  and  legs,  followed  by  a  swimming  sensation  as  if  afloat  in 
the  air.  This  was  accompanied  with  entire  loss  of  feeling,  even  of  contact 
with  my  chair.  I  noticed  that  all  sensation  of  pain  had  ceased  in  my 
throat,  and  the  sensations  which  I  had  were  of  the  most  agreeable  kind. 
Much  pleased  and  excited,  I  continued  the  inhalation  of  the  ether  vapor, 
and  soon  fell  into  a  dreamy  state,  and  then  became  unconscious  of  all 
surrounding  things.  I  know  not  how  long  I  remained  in  that  state,  but 
suppose  that  it  could  not  have  been  less  than  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  judg- 
ing from  the  degree  of  dryness  of  the  cloth  which  during  the  stage  of 
unconsciousness  had  fallen  from  my  mouth  and  nose,  and  lay  upon  my 
chest. 

"  As  I  became  conscious,  I  observed  that  there  was  no  feeling  of  pain 
in  my  throat,  and  my  limbs  were  still  deeply  benumbed,  as  if  the  nerves 
of  sensation  were  fully  paralyzed.  A  strange  thrilling  now  began  to  be 
felt  along  the  spine,  but  it  was  not  in  any  way  disagreeable.  Little  by 
little  sensation  began  to  manifest  itself,  first  in  the  throat  and  body,  and 


618  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

gradually  it  extended  to  the  extremities;  but  it  was  some  time  before  full 
sensation  returned  and  my  throat  became  really  painful. 

"  Reflecting  on  these  phenomena,  the  idea  flashed  into  my  mind  that 
I  had  made  the  discovery  I  had  for  so  long  a  time  been  in  quest  of — 
a  means  of  rendering  the  nerves  of  sensation  temporarily  insensible,  so  as 
to  admit  of  the  performance  of  a  surgical  operation  on  an  individual 
without  his  suffering  pain   therefrom. 

'  That  I  did  draw  this  inference,  and  did  fuily  declare  my  unqualified 
belief  both  of  the  safety  and  efficiency  of  this  method  of  destroying  all 
sensation  of  pain  in  the  human  body  during  the  most  severe  surgical  opera- 
tions no  one  doubts,  and  it  is  fully  proved  by  abundant  legal  evidence, 
which  has  never  been  impeached  or  doubted  in  any  quarter. 

"  I  beg  leave  to  refer  you  again  to  the  evidence  of  Dr.  William  F.  Chan- 
ping,  a  man  of  science,  Fellow  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and 
Sciences,  son  of  the  late  Dr.  William  E.  Channing,  our  most  eminent 
divine ;  to  the  testimony  of  Dr.  S.  A.  Bemis,  one  of  the  most  eminent 
dentists ;  to  the  letter  of  John  H.  Blake,  Esq.,  a  distinguished  chemist, 
and  to  the  testimony  of  Mr.  Henry  D.  Fowle,  one  of  our  best  and  most 
faithful  apothecaries.  Their  evidence  with  that  of  my  worthy  friend  and 
former  pupil,  Mr.  Joseph  Peabody,  eleve  ingenieur  a  l'Ecole  des  Mines  de 
France,  prove  that  I  had  made  this  discovery  long  before  any  other  per- 
son had  ever  tried  a  single  experiment  of  the  kind. 

"  In  the  rapid  operations  of  the  mind,  it  is  not  always  easy  to  trace 
(in  memory)  the  exact  method  of  thought  by  which  we  suddenly  arrive  at 
great  truths;  but  so  far  as  I  can  trace  the  reasoning  that  rapidly  flowed 
through  my  mind,  it  was  based  upon  principles  well  understood  by  all 
educated  physicians  and  physiologists. 

"  I  knew  that  the  nerves  of  sensation  were  distinct  from  those  of  motion, 
and  of  organic  life,  and  that  one  system  might  be  paralyzed  without 
necessarily  and  immediately  affecting  the  others.  I  had  seen  often  enough 
in  my  medical  practice,  the  nerves  of  sensation  paralyzed  without  affecting 
those  of  motion,  and  those  of  motion  paralyzed  without  affecting  those  of 
sensation,  and  both  motion  and  sensation  paralyzed  without  affecting  the 
ganglionic  nerves  or  those  of  organic  life. 

"  I  knew,  also,  that  the  nerves  of  sensation  are  stationed  as  sentinels 
near  the  exterior  of  our  bodies,  to  warn  us  of  danger  from  external  causes 
of  injury,  and  that  there  is  no  feeling  in  the  internal  portions  of  our 
bodies.  I  knew,  also,  that  when  the  knife  is  applied  in  surgical  opera- 
tions, that  there  is  little  sense  of  pain  in  any  parts  beneath  the  skin  (the 
trunks  of  nerves  only  excepted).  This  my  own  surgical  experience,  as  well 
as  that  of  others  long  since  demonstrated,  and  the  philosophy  of  those 
physiological  phenomena  was  made  known  to  the  medical  world  by  Charles 
Bell,  Majendie,  and  other  eminent  anatomists  and  physiologists  in  Europe. 

"  Having  confided  my  discovery  to  twelve  of  my  friends,  most  of  whom 


ETHER,   1846  619 

are  gentlemen  devoted  to  science,  and  some  of  them  physicians  and 
dentists,  I  considered  it  safe,  so  far  as  priority  of  discovery  was  concerned. 
1 1  was  my  intention  to  revisit  Europe,  and  to  bring  out  this  discovery 
in  the  great  hospitals  of  Paris,  where  I  felt  confident  I  should  be  treated 
with  courtesy  and  fairness ;  but  I  was  at  the  time  actively  engaged  in  the 
Geological  Survey  of  the  State  of  New  Hampshire ;  and  while  my  Report 
was  in  press,  was  called  upon  to  explore  the  wilderness  of  Lake  Superior 
land  district,  for  copper  mines,  so  that  I  had  not  a  month  that  could  be 
spared  for  a  voyage  to  Europe.     Hence  my  procrastination." 

Jackson  then  introduced  a  second  claim,  namely,  that  Mor- 
ton acted  as  a  "nurse"  under  his  directions.  He  says :  "Under 
these  circumstances,  I  employed  a  dentist,  a  nominal  medical 
pupil  of  mine,  Mr.  W.  T.  G.  Morton,  to  make  a  trial  of  my 
discovery,  in  dental  surgery,  which  he  consented  to  do,  if  I 
would  take  the  entire  responsibility.  This  I  did  at  once  before 
two  of  my  chemical  pupils*."  This  was  the  Eben  H.  Frost 
case  previously  related.  "I  then  engaged  this  dentist  to  go  to 
Dr.  John  C.  Warren,  and  ask  him  to  test  the  ether  in  a  more 
severe  operation,  at  the  Hospital.  The  reason  why  I  did  not 
go  in  person,  was  that  I  was  at  that  time  engaged  in  chemical 
work  for  others,  which  could  not  be  left.  I  proposed  to  see 
Dr.  Warren  a  few  days  afterwards,  as  I  did.  Mr.  Morton 
did  as  directed,  and  came  at  once  and  reported  to  me  that 
'Dr.  Warren  had  consented  to  try  the  experiment'  *  *  * 
I  was  not  informed  when  the  trial  of  the  ether  was  to  be  made 
at  the  Hospital,  and  it  was  done  the  next  day,  without  notify- 
ing me  that  T  might  attend  and  witness  the  effects."  This 
was  the  October  16th  test.  Then  follows  an  accusation  that 
Morton  did  not  tell  Warren  he  had  been  sent  by  Jackson,  and 
of  Morton's  secrecy  about  the  nature  of  the  agent  used.  He 
relates  Warren's  request  that  he  come  to  the  Hospital  to 
administer  the  ether,  as  he  did  "not  like  to  have  such  a  quack- 
ish  fellow  as  Morton  about  the  Hospital."  This  request  Jack- 
son was  not  able  to  fulfill,  as  he  was  about  to  leave  for  Mary- 

*  George  O.   Burner  and  James   Mclntire. 


620  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

land,  but  he  "would  fully  instruct  Morton  and  send  him  to 
administer  the  ether."  Jackson  further  states  that  he  in- 
formed Warren  of  the  nature  of  the  "compound"  used  by 
Morton.  Jackson  did  not  attend  an  operation  under  ether 
until  November  21st,  1846,  and  again  on  January  2,  1847; 
a  part  of  this  time  he  was  absent  from  the  state.  He  wrote 
a  letter  to  the  Academy  of  Science  of  France  under  date  No- 
vember 13,  1846,  but  did  not  mail  it  until  December  1st,  being 
assured  by  Morton  that  "all  should  be  set  right",  if  he  would 
wait.  This  first  letter  for  the  Academy  was  in  part  as  fol- 
lows : 

"  Boston,  13th  November,  1846. 

"  I  ask  permission  to  communicate,  through  you,  to  the  Academy  of 
Sciences,  a  discovery  which  I  have  made,  and  which  I  believe  to  be  import- 
ant for  the  relief  of  suffering  humanity,  and  of  great  value  in  surgical  art. 
It  is  five  or  six  years  since  I  noticed  the  peculiar  state  of  insensibility 
into  which  the  nervous  system  is  plunged  by  the  inhalation  of  the  vapor 
of  pure  sulphuric  ether,  which  I  inhaled  in  large  quantities,  first  for  experi- 
ment, and  afterwards  when  suffering  from  a  severe  inflammation,  caused 
by  the  inhalation  of  chlorine.  1  have  recently  made  use  of  this  fact,  by 
inducing  a  dentist  of  this  city  to  administer  the  vapor  of  ether  to  persons 
whose  teeth  he  was  about  to  extract.  It  was  observed  that  these  persons 
did  not  suffer  any  pain  during  the  operations,  and  that  no  inconvenience 
resulted  from  the  administration  of  ether. 

"  I  next  urged  this  dentist  to  go  to  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital, 
and  administer  the  ether  vapor  to  a  patient  who  was  to  undergo  a  painful 
surgical  operation.  The  result  was,  that  the  patient  did  not  feel  the  least 
pain,  and  did  well  afterwards.  An  operation  near  the  jaw,  the  amputation 
of  a  limb,  and  the  excision  of  a  tumor  were  the  subjects  of  the  first  sur- 
gical experiments. 

"  Since  then  numerous  surgical  operations  have  been  performed,  on 
different  patients,  with  like  success,  and  always  without  pain.  The  patients 
have  convalesced  well,  not  having  suffered  any  nervous  shock. 

"  I  desire  that  the  Academy  of  Sciences  will  have  the  goodness  to 
appoint  a  commission  to  make  the  necessary  experiments,  in  order  to 
prove  the  exactitude  of  the  assertions  which  I  address  to  you,  concerning 
the  remarkable  effects  produced  by  the  inhalation  of  ether  vapor. 

"One  may  very  conveniently  breath  this  vapor,  by  dipping  a  lar^c 
sponge  in  ether,  placing  it  in  a  short  conical  tube,  or  in  a  funnel,  and 
drawing  the  atmospheric  air  into  the  lungs,  through  the  sponge  thus  satu- 
rated with  ether.     The  air  may  be  ejected  by  the  nose,  or  valves  may  be 


ETHER,   1846  621 

placed  on  the  tube  or  funnel,  so  that  the  breath  may  not  traverse  the 
sponge  and  weaken  the  ether  by  aqueous  vapor. 

"  At  the  end  of  a  few  minutes  the  patient  falls  into  a  very  peculiar 
state  of  sleep  and  may  be  submitted  to  any  surgical  operation  without 
his  feeling  the  least  pain;  his  pulse  becomes  generally  a  little  more  rapid, 
and  his  eyes  shine,  as  from  the  effect  of  a  peculiar  excitement.  When 
he  recovers  from  this  state,  in  a  few  minutes,  he  will  say  to  you  that 
he  has  been  asleep  and  has  dreamed. 

"  Ordinarily  weak  (alcoholic)  ether  will  not  produce  the  proper  effect. 
The  patient  will  only  be  made  drunk  by  it,  and  will  suffer  headache  after- 
wards.   We  should  use,  therefore,  only  the  most  highly  rectified  ether. 

"  If  a  dentist  extracts  teeth  in  the  evening,  he  should  employ  a  Davy 
safety  lamp,  for  a  naked  flame  might  cause  an  explosion  if  brought  near 
the  mouth. 

"  In    the   administration    of   ether   vapor    it   is   important    to   have    it   in 

large   volume,   so   that   it   may   be   inhaled   freely   and   produce   its   effects 

promptly,  because  we  thus  avoid  all  disagreeable  sensations;    but  there  is 

no  danger  to  be  feared  from  prolonged  inhalation  of  ether  vapor,  provided 

that  atmospheric  air  also   is  properly  admitted.     In  prolonged  operations 

we  apply  the  ether  vapor  several  times,  at  proper  intervals,  so  as  to  keep 

the  patient  in  this    (ethereal)    sleep. 

Charles  T.  Jackson. 

Jackson  had  a  wide  acquaintance  among  the  scientists  of 
Europe,  and  his  friend  and  former  teacher,  M.  Elie  de  Beau- 
mont, became  his  champion  before  the  French  Academy.  Pres- 
ident Bonaparte  soon  bestowed  the  Cross  of  the  Legion  of 
Honor  upon  Jackson  as  the  discoverer  of  ether. 

During  the  year  1847-48  the  controversy  between  Morton 
and  Jackson  was  waged  bitterly,  as  the  following  documents 
tell: 

'To  the  Honorable  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
United  States  of  America  in  Congress  Assembled: 

'  Your  petitioner,  William  T.  G.  Morton,  respectfully  represents,  that  he 
is  a  dentist  in  the  city  of  Boston  ;  that  in  the  year  1846,  and  for  several 
years  previously  thereto,  he  was  in  the  prosperous  and  lucrative  practice 
of  his  profession  in  that  city ;  his  actual  annual  receipts  from  his  business, 
as  his  accounts  will  show,  being  between  nine  and  ten  thousand  dollars. 

'  That  his  occupation  obliging  him  to  see  frequent  instances  of  frequent 
suffering,  he  was,  as  many  others  had  been,  induced  to  consider  whether 
there  might  not  be  some  means  of  alleviating  such  sufferings,  and  render- 
ing operations  less  painful   to  those  obliged   to  submit  to  them. 


622  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

"  That,  in  pursuance  of  this  object,  he  examined  such  known  and  ap- 
proved treatises  on  materia  medica  as  he  could  obtain,  and  consulted  with 
the  most  learned  persons  to  whom  he  could  get  access,  but  found  the 
scientific  knowledge  on  this  subject  wholly  vague  and  unsatisfactory;  that, 
nevertheless,  he  continued  the  investigation,  and,  gathering  all  the  infor- 
mation he  could,  was  led,  step  by  step,  after  many  examinations  and 
experiments,  to  the  belief  that  sulphuric  ether,  properly  administered, 
might  produce  partial  if  not  total  insensibility ;  that,  desirous  to  verify 
his  belief  by  actual  experiment  on  the  human  system,  and  finding  the  idea 
prevalent  among  the  scientific  that  any  application  which  would  be  pro- 
ductive of  such  effects  would  be  injurious  to  health,  if  not  fatal  to  life, 
he  made  the  experiment  upon  himself,  and,  after  an  unconsciousness  of 
several  minutes,  awoke  with  no  injury  to  health;  that,  thus  confirmed 
in  his  views,  he  proceeded,  against  much  opposition  and  amidst  many 
obstacles,  until  at  last,  in  the  presence  of  the  most  eminent  surgeons  and 
physicians  of  a  public  institution,  and  on  a  public  occasion,  he  was  enabled 
to  manifest  the  truth  of  his  conception,  and  exhibited  a  patient  submitting 
to  an  amputation  of  a  leg,  without  the  slightest  sentiment  of  pain,  or  the 
least  injury  to  general  health  in  consequence  of  the  application  which 
produced  this  insensibility. 

'  Your  petitioner  would  further  state,  that,  interested  in  the  investiga- 
tions which  resulted  in  this  discovery,  he  devoted  himself  exclusively  to 
them,  to  the  neglect  of  his  ordinary  and  regular  business,  in  consequence 
of  which  his  practice  became  almost  entirely  lost  to  him  ;  that  his  experi- 
ments and  the  various  arrangements  and  preparations  which  the  calls  upon 
him  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  as  well  as  from  foreign  countries, 
obliged  him  to  make,  and  which  a  belief  in  the  validity  of  his  patent 
induced  him  to  suppose  would  not  be  unrequited,  were  very  expensive,  and 
involved  him  deepiy  in  debt ;  that  the  patents  which  he  obtained,  though 
legally  valid,  were  in  fact  wholly  valueless  in  a  pecuniary  sense;  and 
that  he  finds  himself  now,  after  all  his  outlays,  exertions,  and  endeavors, 
with  his  practice  greatly  abridged,  his  reputation  injured  by  the  efforts  of 
those  who  opposed  with  great  warmth  the  introduction  of  his  discovery; 
his  health  impaired  by  mental  anxiety  and  over-exertion  :  himself  reduced 
to  poverty,  embarrassment,  and  pecuniary  distress;  and  probably  the  only 
being  living  who  has  been  a  sufferer  from  a  discovery  which  enables  the 
world  to  rejoice  in  an  exemption  from  many  sufferings. 

'  Your  petitioner  states  only  facts  which  are  well  and  widely  known. 
He  therefore  respectfully  prays  your  honorable  body,  that — considering 
the  nature  of  the  discovery ;  the  benefit  which  it  confers,  and  must  con- 
tinue to  confer  so  long  as  nature  lasts,  upon  humanity ;  the  price  at  which 
your  petitioner  effected  it,  in  the  serious  injury  to  his  business;  the  detri- 
ment to  his  health ;  the  entire  absence  of  any  remuneration  from  the 
privileges  under  his  patent,  and  that  it  is  of  direct  benefit  to  the  govern- 


ETHER,   1846  623 

merit,  by  its  use  in  the  army  and  navy — you  should  grant  him  such  relief 
as  might  seem  to  you  sufficient  to  restore  him  at  least  to  that  position 
in  which  he  was  before  he  made  known  to  the  world  a  discovery  which 
enables  man  to  undergo,  without  the  sense  of  pain,  the  severest  physical 
trials  to  which  human  nature  is  subject. 
"  And  your  petitioner  will  ever  pray,  &c. 

"  Wm.  T.  G.  Morton." 

"  To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States 
in  Congress  Assembled  : 
'  The  undersigned  begs  leave  to  represent,  that,  whereas  a  memorial 
has  been  presented  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  by  William 
Thomas  Green  Morton,  of  the  city  of  Boston,  in  the  State  of  Massachu- 
setts, representing  that  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  forty-six,  he,  the  said  Morton,  made,  in  the  city  of  Boston  afore- 
said, a  discovery  by  which  the  human  body  is  rendered  insensible  to  pain 
during  surgical  operations,  and  during  other  serious  and  violent  affections, 
by  means  of  the  vapor  of  sulphuric  ether  inhaled  into  the  lungs, — praying 
also  for  a  national  remuneration  or  reward  for  making  the  said  discovery, 
and  for  its  practical  application ;  and  whereas  the  said  discovery  was  made 
by  the  undersigned,  without  the  knowledge  of  the  said  Morton,  and  with- 
out the  co-operation  or  assistance  of  any  person  whomsoever,  and  was 
communicated  by  the  undersigned  to  various  persons,  from  the  spring  and 
autumn  of  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-two  to  the  thirtieth  day  of  Septem- 
ber, eighteen  hundred  and  forty-six  inclusive,  and  on  the  said  thirtieth 
day  of  September  was  also  communicated  by  the  undersigned  to  the  said 
Morton,  he,  the  said  Morton,  being  previous  to  the  said  communication 
of  the  discovery  to  him,  wholly  ignorant  of  the  anaesthetic  properties  and 
effects  of  sulphuric  ether  aforesaid ;  and  whereas  the  undersigned  did  also, 
on  the  thirtieth  day  of  September,  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-six,  devise 
and  commit  to  the  said  Morton  the  performance  of  an  experiment  for  the 
verification  of  the  said  discovery,  so  far  as  the  extracting  of  teeth  is 
concerned ;  and  whereas  the  said  Morton,  acting  in  strict  conformity  with 
the  instructions  and  upon  the  exclusive  and  expressly-assumed  responsi- 
bility of  the  undersigned,  did,  to  the  extent  of  a  painless  extraction  of  a 
tooth,  successfully  verify  the  said  discovery ;  and  whereas  the  under- 
signed did,  shortly  afterwards,  cause  the  discovery  to  be  further  verified 
by  the  surgeons  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  in  the  first  pain- 
less capital  operation  ever  performed  under  the  influence  of  the  ether- 
vapor;  and  whereas  the  signature  of  the  undersigned  to  certain  letters- 
patent,  taken  out  in  the  joint  names  of  the  undersigned  and  of  the  said 
Morton,  declaring  the  discovery  to  be  their  joint  invention,  was  obtained 
through  the  representation  of  Robert  H.  Eddy,  Esq.,  of  said  Boston,  the 
solicitor  by  whom  the  said  letters-patent  were  procured,  and  copartner 
with  the  said  Morton  in  the  profits  thereof,  that  the  undersigned  'might 


624  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Jose  all  his  credit  as  a  discoverer,'  if  he  did  not  consent  to  become  a  party 
to  the  said  letters-patent ;  and  whereas  the  undersigned,  after  being 
instructed  by  eminent  legal  counsel  that  the  said  Morton  had  not  ren- 
dered himself  in  any  sense  a  joint  discoverer,  by  reason  of  the  painless 
extraction  of  a  tooth  as  aforesaid,  and  that  he  had  not  thereby  acquired 
any  right  either  to  an  exclusive  patent  or  to  participation  with  the  under- 
signed in  any  patent  upon  the  said  discovery,  did  publicly  repudiate  all 
connection  with  the  said  letters-patent,  and  did  refuse  any  part  of  the 
proceeds  arising  from  the  sale  of  licenses  under  the  same ;  and  did,  as 
he  originally  intended,  give  the  discovery  freely  to  the  world,  to  the  full 
extent  of  his  interest ;  evidence  of  all  which  is  herewith  submitted.  The 
undersigned  does,  therefore,  earnestly  remonstrate  against  the  memorial 
of  the  said  Morton,  and  prays  that  his  petition  may  not  be  granted ;  and 
that  there  may  not  be,  on  the  part  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
any  recognition  whatever  of  his  claims  to  the  said  discovery. 

"  Charles  T.  Jackson." 
"  Washington,  D.  C,  Jan.  29,  1849." 

'  To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States 
of  America,  in  Congress  Assembled." 

"  The  undersigned,  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  the  Massachusetts  Gen- 
eral Hospital,  beg  leave  to  represent, — 

'  That,  in  the  year  1846,  a  discovery  was  made  in  the  city  of  Boston, 
by  which  the  human  body  is  rendered  insensible  to  pain,  during  surgical 
operations,  and  during  other  serious  and  violent  affections,  by  means  of 
the  vapor  of  ether  inhaled  into  the  lungs. 

'  That  a  patent  for  this  discovery  was  taken  out  by  two  citizens  of 
Boston,  by  whom  the  first  satisfactory  experiments  on  the  prevention  of 
pain  by  this  means  had  been  made ;  and  the  first  capital  operations,  con- 
ducted under  the  influence  of  this  agent,  were  performed  in  the  Massa- 
chusetts General  Hospital  by  the  surgeons  of  that  institution. 

"  That  the  success  of  this  method  of  preventing  pain  has  been  abundantly 
and  completely  established  by  a  hundred  and  fifteen  operations  performed 
in  said  Hospital  during  the  last  year,  and  by  a  still  greater  number  out  of 
it  in   the  city  of  Boston. 

"  And,  in  all  cases  within  the  knowledge  of  the  undersigned,  it  has 
greatly  mitigated,  or  wholly  prevented,  the  pain,  when  skillfully  adminis- 
tered, and  in  no  case  has  any  fatal  or  disastrous  consequence  followed 
its  use  within  their  observation;  and  although  inconveniences  and  tempo- 
rary disturbances  of  the  nervous  system  have  sometimes  followed  its 
application,  yet  these  are  exceptions  to  a  general  rule,  and  are  not  more 
common  than  those  which  result  from  the  employment  of  other  powerful 
medicinal  agents,  and  are  incomparably  less  distressing  than  the  evils  they 
are  employed  to  obviate. 

4  The   undersigned   have    reason  to   believe,   that,   since   the   introduction 


ETHER,   1846  625 

of  this  process,  some  thousands  of  persons  have  inhaled  ether,  in  Boston 
and  its  vicinity,  with  impunity  and  benefit;  that  its  value  is  already 
recognized,  and  its  employment  into  most  parts  of  Europe ;  that  the  use 
of  the  process  ought  to  be,  and  by  judicious  arrangements  probably  will 
be,  extended  into  all  parts  of  the  United  States  ;  and  that  no  discovery 
in  medical  science,  during  the  present  century,  has  relieved  as  much 
suffering,  and  conferred  so  great  a.  benefit  on  humanity,  as  the  discovery 
of  the  power  and  application  of  ether. 

"  The  undersigned  are  aware,  that  the  power  of  ether  to  produce  insensi- 
bility, and  even  death  when  improperly  used,  was  known  in  Europe  many 
years  ago.  They  are  also  aware  that  other  aeriform  bodies  have  been 
experimented  on,  and  the  vapor  of  ether  itself  unsuccessfully  tried,  by 
other  individuals,  in  surgical  operations ;  but  they  are  satisfied,  that  the 
safety  of  the  process,  and  the  effectual  mode  of  applying  it,  were  first 
made  known  in  Boston  in  1846. 

''  Understanding  that  the  use  of  this  important  discovery  is  now  restricted 
by  letters  patent  granted  from  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  and 
believing  that  it  is  the  policy  of  wise  governments  to  diffuse  among  their 
constituents  the  blessings  of  such  discoveries  as  tend  to  alleviate  human 
suffering,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  reward  those  who  have  conferred  such 
benefits  upon  the  world, — the  undersigned  respectfully  pray,  that  such 
sums  as  shall  be  thought  adequate  may  be  paid  by  the  government  of  the 
United  States  to  those  persons  who  shall  be  found,  on  investigation,  to 
merit  compensation  for  the  benefit  conferred  on  the  public  by  this  dis- 
covery, and  on  condition  of  the  relinquishment  by  them  of  any  patent 
right  they  may  hold  restricting  its  use. 

(Signed)  "John  C.  Warren.  "  H.  1.  Bowditch. 

"  Jacob  Bigelow.  "  O.  W.  Holmes. 

"  Geo.  Hayward.  "  J.  Mason  Warren. 

"Enoch  Hale.  "  Samuel  Parkman. 

"  S.  D.  Townsend.  "  Henry  J.  Bigelow." 

"  John  D.  Fisher. 

"Boston,  Nov.  20,  1847." 

The  authorities  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital  ap- 
pointed a  committee  to  consider  the  whole  question.  Their 
conclusions  were  these : 

"  1st.  Dr.  Jackson  does  not  appear  at  any  time  to  have  made  any  dis- 
covery, in  regard  to  ether,  which  zvas  no!  in  print  in  Great  Britain  some 
years  before. 

"2nd.  Dr.  Morton,  in  1846.  discovered  the  facts  before  unknown,  that 
ether  would  prevent  the  pain  of  surgical  operations:  and  that  it  might  be 
given   in  sufficient  quantity  to  effect  this  purpose,  without  danger  to  life. 


626  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

He  first  established  these  facts  by  numerous  operations  on  teeth,  and 
afterwards  induced  the  surgeons  of  the  Hospital  to  demonstrate  its  gen- 
eral applicability  and  importance  in  capital  operations. 

"  3rd.  Dr.  Jackson  appears  to  have  had  the  belief,  that  a  power  in  ether 
to  prevent  pain  in  dental  operations  would  be  discovered.  He  advised  vari- 
ous persons  to  attempt  the  discovery.  But  neither  they  nor  he  took  any 
measures  to  that  end;  and  the  world  remained  in  entire  ignorance  of  both 
the  pozver  and  safety  of  ether,  until  Dr.  Morton  made  his  experiments. 

"4th.  The  whole  agency  of  Dr.  Jackson  in  the  mailer  appears  to  consist 
only  in  his  having  made  certain  suggestions,  which  led  or  aided  Dr.  Mor- 
ton to  make  the  discovery, — a  discovery  zvhich  had  for  some  time  been 
the  object  of  his  labors  and  researches." 

LETTER   TO  DR.    MORTON. 

"  Boston,  May  12,  1848. 

"  Dear  Sir:  At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Massachusetts 
General  Hospital,  a  few  weeks  since,  it  was  formally  suggested,  that  a 
limited  subscription  of  a  thousand  dollars  shall  be  raised  for  your  benefit, 
in  acknowledgement  of  your  services  in  the  late  ether-discovery;  no  one 
to  be  asked  to  subscribe  more  than  ten  dollars.  We  consented  to  act  as 
a  Committee  to  receive  and  apply  the  proceeds  of  this  subscription.  The 
proposed  sum  having  been  obtained,  we  have  now  the  pleasure  of  trans- 
mitting it  to  you.  We  also  enclose  the  subscription-book  in  a  casket 
which  accompanies  this  note.  Among  its  signatures  you  will  find  the 
names  of  not  a  few  of  those  most  distinguished  among  us  for  worth  and 
intelligence;*  and  it  may  be  remarked,  that  it  is  signed  by  every  member 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees. 

'  You  will,  we  are  sure,  highly  value  this  first  testimonial,  slight  as  it 
is,  of  the  gratitude  of  your  fellow-citizens.  That  you  may  hereafter  receive 
adequate  national   reward  is  the  sincere  wish  of  your  obedient  servants, 

"  Samuel   Frothingham. 

•<t     r>      wrir        t    r    a/t     f      »  "  Thos.    B.   Curtis." 

To  Dr.  William  1 .  G.  Morton. 

dr.   morton's  reply. 

"  Boston,  May  15,  1848. 
"Gentlemen:     I  need  hardly  say,  that  your  communication  of  the  12th 

*Josiah  Quincy,  Jr.,  Abbott  Lawrence,  S.  A.  Eliot,  Amos  Lawrence, 
William  Appleton,  J.  I.  Bowditch.  R.  G.  Shaw,  Charles  Amory.  William 
Sturgis,  John  Bryant,  J.  A.  Lowell,  Thomas  Dwight,  Theodore  Lyman, 
F.  H.  Bradlee,  Robert  Hooper,  Charles  Jackson,  James  Jackson,  Marcus 
Morton,  G.  C.  Shattuck,  George  Hayward,  Thomas  Lee,  J.  C.  Warren, 
W.  H.  Prescott,  Rufus  Choate,  William  Ropes,  C.  F.  Adams,  Daniel  Web- 
ster, John  Homans,  R.  H.  Dana,  Augustus  Thorndike,  Russell  Sturgis, 
H.  H.  Hunnewell,  J.  P.  Higginson,  and  about  thirty  others. 


ETHER,   1846  627 

inst.,  and  the  accompanying  casket,  subscription-book,  and  donation,  have 
been  received  by  me  with  gratification  of  no  ordinary  degree. 

"  Apart  from  the  positive  value  of  the  gifts,  the  kind  feeling  which 
has  led  to  this  manifestation  on  the  part  of  so  many  of  the  first  citizens 
of  Boston  has  affected  me  in  a  manner  that  I  am  not  likely  soon  to  forget. 
The  circumstances  in  which  I  have  been  placed  for  some  time  past  give 
them  an  additional  value;  and  by  my  children  the  testimonial  will  be 
appreciated  hardly  less  than  by  myself. 

"  In  recognizing  among  the  names  those  of  each  of  the  Trustees  of  the 
Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  I  am  bound  to  acknowledge  this  renewal 
of  my  indebtedness  to  that  institution.  It  was  the  first  to  receive,  verify, 
sustain,  and  promulgate  the  ether-discovery ;  and,  from  the  earliest,  I  have 
received  from  its  officers,  surgeons,  physicians,  and  trustees,  nothing  but 
constant  courtesy,  liberality,  and  kind  consideration. 

"  Allow  me  to  acknowledge  your  personal  kindness  in  acting  as  a 
Committee  for  the  purposes  of  subscription,  and  the  tasteful  manner  in 
which  you  have  given  to  it  an  endearing  value  and  significance. 

"  You  are  pleased  to  speak  of  my  services  as  deserving  a  national 
reward.  I  am  glad  to  have  your  concurrence  and  sympathy  in  this  opin- 
ion ;  and  it  is  not  unknown  to  you,  that,  if  received,  it  would  be  to  me, 
not  only  a  reward,  but  an  -indemnification  and  relief. 

"  Respectfully,  your  obliged  and  obedient  servant, 

"  William  T.  G.  Morton." 

'  To  Messrs.  Samuel  Froth ingham  and  Thomas  B.  Curtis." 


'a1 


Morton's  remaining  years  were  pathetic.  After  the  failure 
of  the  patent  he  tried  to  interest  the  Federal  Government  in 
ether  anaesthesia  for  military  purposes,  but  the  government 
went  on  using  it  without  regard  to  patent  rights,  and  Morton's 
licensees  immediately  held  him  accountable  for  their  losses. 
Lawsuits  and  litigations  resulted  only  in  failure  for  all  these 
unfortunates.  Morton's  appeal  to  Congress  brought  a  recom- 
mendation that  a  grant  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  be 
made  to  him  from  the  national  treasury.  Congress  procras- 
tinated, and  finally,  in  1854,  Morton  asked  President  Pierce 
to  intervene.  Just  as  this  step  was  about  to  bear  fruit,  the 
Secretary  of  war,  Jefferson  Davis,  advised  the  President  to 
recpiire,  as  a  prerequisite,  a  suit  and  judgment  against  a  gov- 
ernment surgeon  for  using  ether  without  compensation  to  the 
patentee.     Tn  such  a  suit  Morton  was  successful.     Then  came 


628  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

a  new  administration,  and  the  same  course  had  to  be  pursued 
again.  This  time  the  defendant  was  the  New  York  Eye  In- 
firmary, and  Morton  was  defeated.  To  add  to  his  discom- 
fiture the  American  Medical  Association  passed  resolutions 
of  censure  against  him  in  the  following  terms  : 

"  Whereas,  In  the  appropriation  bill  now  pending  in  Congress  is  a  claim 
donating  to  Dr.  W.  T.  G.  Morton,  of  Boston,  the  sum  of  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars  as  a  recognition  of  his  services  in  introducing  sulphuric 
ether  as  an  anaesthetic  agent ;    and 

"Whereas,  the  said  Dr.  Morton,  by  suits  against  charitable  medical 
institutions  for  infringements  of  an  alleged  patent  covering  all  anaesthetic 
agents,  not  claiming  sulphuric  ether  only,  but  the  state  of  anaesthesia, 
however  produced,  as  his  invention,  has  by  this  act  put  himself  beyond 
the  pale  of  an  honorable  profession  and  of  true  laborers  in  the  cause  of 
science  and  humanity ;    therefore 

"  Resolved,  That  the  American  Medical  Association  enter  their  protest 
against  any  appropriation  to  Dr.  Morton,  on  the  ground  of  his  unworthy 
conduct,  also  because  of  his  unwarrantable  assumption  of  a  patent  right  in 
anaesthesia,  and  further  because  private  beneficence  in  Boston,  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  and  other  places  has  already  sufficiently  rewarded  him  for 
any  claim  which  he  may  justly  urge. 

"  Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions,  if  passed,  be  forwarded 
to  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means." 

Dr.  Mauran,  of  Rhode  Island,  moved  the  adoption  of  both 
resolutions,  which  were  carried. 

These  resolutions  were  passed  by  a  "snap  vote"  just  before 
final  adjournment,  and  as  one  reads  the  proceedings  of  that 
convention  he  can  but  feel  regret.  A  question  of  this  mag- 
nitude, one  which  had  taxed  the  maturer  judgment  of  scien- 
tific men  in  Europe  and  this  country  should  not  have  received 
such  hasty  action.*     Morton's  suit  was  undertaken  as  a  test 

*  The  temper  of  this  meeting  is  shown  by  the  following  incident  :  J.  C. 
Warren,  a  delegate  to  the  Association,  carried  and  distributed  upon  the 
seats  a  considerable  number  of  printed  circulars  inviting  a  subscription 
from  any  who  would  like  to  subscribe  to  a  monument  for  Morton.  On 
his  return  to  his  room  late  in  the  evening  he  found  these  circulars  care- 
fully  collected   and   placed   upon   his   table.     The   next   day   the  hall   was 


ETHER,   1846 


62!J 


case  by  direction  of  the  government.  Foreign  scientific  bodies 
were  more  liberal  than  the  American  Medical  Association. 
The  order  of  Saint  Vladimir  was  bestowed  on  Morton  by 
Russia ;  the  Order  of  Vasa  by  Sweden ;  and  from  France  came 
this: 

AWARD   OF   THE    FRENCH    INSTITUTE. 

"  In  March,  1850,  the  French  Institute  pronounced  an  award  in  the 
matter  of  the  ether-disccvery.  The  first  prize  of  medicine  and  surgery, 
for  the  years  1847  and  1848,  was  decreed  to  Messrs.  Jackson  and  Morton 
jointly.  The  language  of  the  award  is  as  follows:  '  Mr.  Jackson  and  Mr. 
Morton  were  necessary  to  each  other.  Without  the  earnestness,  the  pre- 
conceived idea,  the  courage,  not  to  say  the  audacity  of  the  latter,  the  fact 
observed  by  Dr.  Jackson  might  have  long  remained  unapplied  ;  and,  but 
for  the  fact  observed  by  Mr.  Jackson,  the  idea  of  Mr.  Morton  would 
perhaps  have  been  barren  and  ineffectual.'  Two  thousand  five  hundred 
francs  are  therefore  awarded  to  Mr.  Jackson  '  for  his  observations  and 
experiments  on  the  anaesthetic  effects  of  the  inhalation  of  ether ' ;  and  the 
same  sum  to  Mr.  Morton  '  for  having  introduced  this  method  into  surgical 
practice,  pursuant  to  the  suggestions  of  Mr.  Jackson.' " 

Few  persons  were  better  qualified  to  know  the  true  situation 

than  Henry  J.  Bigelow.     Here  is  a  letter  from  him,  written 

while  this  matter  was  recent  history: 

"  January  26,  1848. 
"Dear  Sir:  I  believe  most  fully  that  Dr.  Morton  deserves  any  reward 
Congress  may  grant  to  the  discoverer ;  because,  although  many  people 
have  thought  that  a  man  could  be  intoxicated  beyond  the  reach  of  pain, 
Dr.  Morton  alone  proved  this  previous  possibility  to  be  a  certainty,  and 
safe.     A  tabular  form  will  make  the  matter  plainer  than  words: — 


Before  October,  1846, 
who  made  the  sugges- 
tion? Here  is  the  only 
ground  of  dispute. 


Discovery  in  Octo- 
ber, 1846.  Consecutive 
experiments  by  Mor- 
ton. 


After  October,  1846, 
Morton  alone  took 
the  responsibility  of 
danger  and  proved  that 
it  was 

1st.     Certain. 
2d.     Safe. 

"  The  last   two  points,  namely,   the  consecutive  experiments,   and  their 
confirmation,   wdiich    nobody    denies   to   Morton,    make   him,   in    my  eyes, 


flooded    with    pamphlets    advocating    Well's    claim    as    the    discoverer    of 
anaesthesia. 


630  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

the  discoverer.  The  only  doubt  is  as  to  who  made  the  suggestion.  To 
me  this  is  of  no  importance.  Dr.  Jackson  says:  'I  did.  I  told  Mr. 
Morton  to  try  the  experiment,  and  unless  I  had  so  told  him  he  would 
never  have  tried  it.'  Dr.  Jackson  adds :  '  I  first  tried  ether  when  I  was 
suffering  from  chlorine,  in  1842.  I  afterwards  recommended  it  to  Mr. 
Peabody.'  But  Dr.  Morton  confutes  even  these  positions.  He  says  to 
Dr.  Jackson :  '  I  show,  by  the  evidence  of  Dr.  Gould,  Mr.  Wightman, 
and  Mr.  Metcalf,  that  I  was  experimenting  with  ether  before  the  inter- 
view in  which  you  claim  to  have  brought  it  to  my  notice.  In  1842  you 
only  re-discovered  what  was  before  clearly  in  print  in  Pereira's  Materia 
Medica.  You  claim  that  you  told  Mr.  Peabody  what  you  knew  of  ether. 
Now  you  could  not  know  it.  You  have  stated  all  your  grounds  of  deduc- 
tion, and  the  widest  inference  you  could  draw  from  them  is  a  suspicion 
of  the  properties  of  ether ;  and  a  suspicion  in  science,  an  unconfirmed 
theory,  amounts  to  nothing.  Finally  what  you  claim  to  have  discovered 
in  1842  you  kept  to  yourself  four  years.  Do  you  expect  the  world  to 
believe  you  knew  its  value?  Do  you  expect  it  to  reward  you  for  letting 
people  suffer  during  that  length  of  lime?  Besides,  the  suggestion  of 
anaesthetic  agencies  occurred  to  Davy ;  especially  was  it  followed  out, 
though  unsuccessfully,  by  Horace  Wells,  who,  disgusted  with  failure, 
abandoned  his  attempts.'  These  and  others  had  hypotheses  as  well  as 
Dr.  Jackson.  Morton  alone  proved  the  hypothesis.  Without  Morton 
there  is  no  evidence  that  the  world  would  have  known  ether  to  the  present 
day.  I  believe  this  covers  the  ground  of  important  argument  and  difference 
in  the  pamphlets.     . 

"  Respectfully  your  obedient  servant, 

"  Henry  J.  Bigelow." 

Morton  died  of  apoplexy  in  New  York,  on  July  15,  1868, 
at  the  age  of  forty-nine.  Jackson  died  insane  in  1880.  Let 
me  conclude  this  ether  story  with  the  familiar  words  of  Oliver 
Wendell  Holmes,  addressed  to  his  class  of  medical  students 
in  1847  at  the  Harvard  Medical  School : 

"  Here  almost  within  the  present  year,  the  unborrowed  discovery  first 
saw  the  light,  which  has  compassed  the  whole  earth  before  the  sun  could 
complete  his  circle  in  the  zodiac.  There  are  thousands  who  never  heard 
of  the  American  Revolution,  who  know  not  whether  an  American  citizen 
has  the  color  of  a  Carib  or  a  Caucasian,  to  whom  the  name  of  Boston  is 
familiar  through  this  medical  discovery.  In  this  very  hour  while  I  am 
speaking  how  many  human  creatures  are  cheated  of  pangs  which  seemed 
inevitable  as  the  common  doom  of  mortality ;    and  lulled  by  the  strange 


ETHER,   1846  031 

magic  of  the  enchanted  goblet,  held  for  a  moment  to  their  lips,   into  a 
repose  which  has  something  of  ecstasy  in  its  dreamy  slumbers. 

"The  knife  is  searching  for  disease,  the  pulleys  are  dragging  back  dis- 
located limbs,  nature  herself  is  working  out  the  primal  curse  which  doomed 
the  tenderest  of  her  creatures  to  the  sharpest  of  her  trials,  but  the  fierce 
extremity  of  suffering  has  been  steeped  in  the  waters  of  forgetfulness, 
and  the  deepest  furrow  in  the  knotted  brow  of  agony  has  been  smoothed 
forever." 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

1.  "  Insensibility  during  Surgical  Operations,  produced  by  Inhalation." 
By  H.  J.  Bigelow,  M.  D.  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  Nov.  18, 
1846. 

2.  "  The  Inhalation  of  an  Ethereal  Vapor  to  prevent  Sensibility  to 
Pain  during  Surgical  Operations."  By  J.  F.  Flagg,  M.  D.  Boston  Medical 
and  Surgical  Journal,  Dec.  2,   1846. 

3.  "  Inhalation  of  Ethereal  Vapor  for  the  Prevention  of  Pain  in  Sur- 
gical Operations."  By  John  C.  Warren,  M.  D.,  &c.  &c.  Boston  Medical 
and    Surgical   Journal,   Dec.   9,    1846. 

4.  "  Insensibility  during  Surgical  Operations,  produced  by  Inhalation." 
By  H.  J.  Bigelow,  M.  D.  (in  reply  to  Dr.  J.  F.  Flagg).  Boston  Medical 
and  Surgical  Journal,  Dec.  9,  1846. 

5.  "  Inhalation  of  Ether."  By  J.  Mason  Warren.  M.  D.  Boston  Med- 
ical and  Surgical  Journal,  March  24,  1847. 

6.  Circular,  by  W.  T.  G.  Morton,     pp.  88.     Boston,  March,  1847. 

7.  "  History  of  the  Discovery  of  the  Application  of  Nitrous  Oxide 
Gas,  Ether,  and  other  Vapors,  to  Surgical  Operations."  By  Horace  Wells. 
pp.  26.     Hartford,  March,  1847. 

8.  "  Some  Account  of  the  First  Use  of  Sulphuric  Ether  by  Inhalation 
in  Surgical  Practice."  By  George  Hayward.  M.  D.  pp.  8.  Boston, 
April,  1847. 

9.  "  Discovery  by  Charles  T.  Jackson,  M.  D.,  of  the  Applicability  of 
Sulphuric  Ether  in  Surgical  Operations."  By  Martin  Gay,  M.  D.  pp.  48. 
Boston,  June,  1847. 

10.  "  A  Review  of  Dr.  M.  Gay's  Statement  of  Dr.  C.  T.  Jackson's 
Claims  to  the  Discovery,  &c.  &c."  By  J.  B.  S.  Jackson,  M.  D.  Boston 
Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  June  30,  1847. 

11.  "Some  Account  of  the  Letheon ;  or,  Who  is  the  Discoverer?"  By 
Edward  Warren,     pp.  88.     Boston,  August,  1847. 

12.  "  Mcmoire  sur  la  Decouverte  du  Nouvel  Emploi  de  l'Ether  Sul- 
furique ;"  par  W.  T.  G.  Morton,  de  Boston,  Etats  Unis ;  suivi  des  Pieces 
Justificatives.     pp.  60.     Paris,  1847. 

13.  Report  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hos- 
pital, presented  to  the  Corporation  at  their  annual  meeting,  Jan.  26,  1848. 

14.  "  Account  of  a  New  Anaesthetic  Agent  as  a  Substitute  for  Sulphuric 


632  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Ether  in  Surgery  and  Midwifery.     By  J.  Y.  Simpson,  M.  D.,  F.  R.  S.  E., 
&c.    pp.  24.    Reprinted,  New  York,  January,  1848. 

15.  "Reprint  of  the  Report  of  the  Trustees  of  Massachusetts  General 
Hospital,  with  a  History  of  the  Ether  Discovery,  and  Dr.  Morton's  Memoir 
to  the  French  Academy."  Edited  hy  R.  H.  Dana,  jun. ;  pp.  48.  Boston, 
March,  1848. 

16.  "  Rapport  des  Administrateurs  de  l'Hopital  General  de  Massachu- 
setts, suivi  de  l'Histoire  de  la  Decouverte  de  l'Ether,  &c.  &c."  R.  H. 
Dana,  jun.,  editeur.    pp.  144.     Cambridge,  1848. 

17.  "A  Defence  of  Dr.  Charles  T.  Jackson's  Claims  to  the  Discovery 
of  Etherization ;  containing  Testimony  disproving  the  Claims  set  up  in 
Favor  of  Mr.  W.  T.  G.  Morton  in  the  Report  of  the  Trustees  of  the 
Massachusetts  Hospital,  and  in  No.  201  of  Littell's  Living  Age."  By 
Joseph  L.  and  Henry  C.  Lord.     pp.  37.     Boston,  June,  1848. 

18.  '  The  Ether  Controversy :  Vindication  of  the  Hospital  Report  of 
1848."     By  N.  I.  Bowditch.     pp.  32.     Boston,  July,  1848. 

19.  Reports  of  the  First  Exhibition  of  the  Worcester  County  Mechan- 
ics' Association  at  Worcester,  September,  1848.     pp.  74. 

20.  "  Ether  and  Chloroform  ;  their  Discovery  and  Physiological  Effects, 
&c."     By  H.  J.  Bigelow,  M.  D.    pp.  45.     Boston,  November,  1848. 

21.  Memorial  addressed  to  the  Trustees  of  the  Massachusetts  General 
Hospital,  in  Behalf  of  C.  T.  Jackson,  M.  D.,  by  his  attorneys,  J.  L.  and 
H.  C.  Lord.     pp.  27.     Boston,  December,   1848. 

22.  Report  of  the  Select  Committee  of  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  to  whom  was  referred  the  Memorial  of  William  T.  G.  Morton, 
asking  Compensation  from  Congress  for  the  Discovery  of  the  Pain-sub- 
duing Property  of  Sulphuric  Ether,  pp.  46.  Washington,  D.  C,  Feb. 
23,  1849. 

23.  Minority  Report  of  the  same  Committee,  pp.  99.  Washington, 
D.  C,  Feb.  23,  1849. 

24.  "Rapport  du  Comite  du  Senat  et  de  la  Chambre  des  Representants 
des  Etats  Unis  d'Amerique,  auquel  on  refera  le  Memoire  de  William  T.  G. 
Morton,  demandant  une  Compensation,"  &c.  &c.  pp.  35.     Le  23   Fevrier, 

1849. 

25.  '  The  Casket  and  the  Ribbon  ;  or,  the  Honors  of  Ether."  pp.  26. 
Baltimore,  1849.     By  William  H.  Dwinells,  M.  D. 

The  volumes  of  the  "  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal 
from  August,  1846,  to  August,  1849,  inclusive,  contain  com- 
munications on  "  Letheon."     To  these  I  add : 

26.  "  An  Address  delivered  before  the  Castleton  Medical  College,  on 
the  History  of  the  Original  Application  of  Anaesthetic  Agents ;"  May  17, 
1848.     By  E.  R.  Smilie,  M.  D. 


ETHER,   1846  633 

27.  *'  Painless  Operations  in  Surgery."  Littell's  Living  Age,  Vol.  xiii, 
No.  161,  June  12,  1847. 

28.  "  Etherization :  a  Compendium  of  its  History,  Surgical  Use,  Dan- 
ger, and  Discovery."  By  Henry  J.  Bigelow,  M.  D.  Boston  Medical  and 
Surgical  Journal,  April  19,  1848,  p.  229  and  p.  254. 

29.  "  Anaesthetic  Agents :  their  Mode  of  Exhibition  and  Physiological 
Effects."  By  Henry  J.  Bigelow,  M.  D.  Transactions  of  the  American 
Medical  Association,  Vol.  1,  1848. 

30.  "  Principles  recognized  by  Scientific  Men  applied  to  the  Ether  Con- 
troversy." By  Mr.  Joseph  Hale  Abbot.  Littell's  Living  Age,  Vol.  XVII. 
No.  214,  June  17,  1848. 

31.  "Etherization;  with  Surgical  Remarks."  By  J.  C.  Warren,  M.  D. 
Boston,  1848. 

32.  "  On  the  Physiological  Effects  of  Sulphuric  Ether,  and  its  Superior- 
ity to  Chloroform."     By  William  T.  G.  Morton,  M.  D.     Boston,  1850. 

33.  "  Interesting  Statement  of  Pacts  relative  to  the  Ether  Discovery." 
By  H.  A.  Hildreth,  Boston.  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  Nov. 
24,  1852. 

34.  "  Discovery  by  the  late  Horace  Wells  of  the  Applicability  of  Ni- 
trous-Oxide Gas,  Sulphuric  Ether,  and  other  Vapors,  in  Surgical  Opera- 
tions, nearly  two  years  before  the  Patented  Discovery  of  Drs.  Charles  T. 
Jackson  and  W.  T.  G.  Morton."     By  J.  Wales.     Hartford,  Conn.,  1852. 

35.  "  On  Anaesthetic  Agents."  By  Charles  T.  Jackson,  M.  D.  South- 
ern Medical  and  Surgical  Journ?!.  January.  1853.     Augusta,  Ga. 

36.  "  Trials  of  a  Public  Benefactor,  as  illustrated  in  the  Discovery  of 
Etherization."     By  Nathan  P.  Rice,  M.  D.     New  York,  1859. 

37.  "Dr.  Wells,  the  Discoverer  of  Anaesthesia.  Who  conquered  Pain?" 
New  York,  i860.      (Anonymous.) 

38.  "  A  Manual  of  Etherization  ;  containing  Directions  for  the  Employ- 
ment of  Ether,  Chloroform,  and  other  Anaesthetic  Agents,  by  Inhalation, 
in  Surgical  Operations,  intended  for  Military  and  Naval  Surgeons,  and  all 
who  may  be  Exposed  to  Surgical  Operations;  with  Instructions  for  the 
Preparation  of  Ether  and  Chloroform,  and  for  testing  them  for  Impurities. 
Containing  also  a  brief  History  of  the  Discovery  of  Anaesthesia."  By 
Charles  T.  Jackson,  M.  D.     Boston,  1861.     i2tno,  pp.   134. 

39.  "An  Inquiry  into  the  Origin  of  Modern  Anaesthesia."  By  the 
Hon.  Truman  Smith.  Including  a  Life  of  Horace  Wells,  by  P.  W.  Ells- 
worth, M.  D.     Hartford,  1867. 

40.  "  Nitrous-Oxide  Gas  for  Surgical  Purposes  in  1848."  By  Henry 
J.  Bigelow,  M.  D.  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal.  Feb.  13,  1868, 
p.  17. 

41.  "  Death  by  Chloroform,  and  Alleged  Death  by  Ether."  Boston 
Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  October  24,  1872. 

42.  "Alleged  Death   from  Ether.     A  Letter  to  the  Editor  of  the  British 


634  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Medical   Journal."     Boston   Medical   and   Surgical  Journal,   November  20. 

1873- 

43.  A  Century  of  American  Medicine, — 1776-1876.  "  A  History  of  the 
Discovery  of  Modern  Anaesthesia."  By  Henry  J.  Bigelow,  M.  D.  Phila- 
delphia.    Also  in  American  Journal  of  the  Medical  Sciences,  January,  1876. 

44.  "  History  of  the  Discovery  of  Anaesthesia."  By  J.  Marion  Sims, 
M.  D.,  M.  A.,  LL.D.,  267  Madison  Avenue,  New  York.  From  Virginia 
Medical  Monthly,  May,  1877.     Richmond,  1877;  New  York,  1879. 

45.  "Anaesthetic  Inhalation:  Rival  Claimants  to  the  Discovery.  Dr. 
Long's  Claim  criticised.  The  Priority  of  Dr.  Morton's  Claim  maintained." 
By  William  J.  Morton,  M.  D.     New  York  Medical  Times,  Sept.  9,   1879. 

46.  "  The  Discoverer  of  Anaesthesia.  The  Claims  made  for  Dr.  Long 
criticised."  By  William  J.  Morton,  M.  D.  New  York  Medical  Record, 
Nov.   1,   1879. 

47.  "  Escape  from  Pain :  the  History  of  a  Discovery."  By  Sir  James 
Paget.     The  Nineteenth  Century,  December,  1879. 

48.  '  The  Invention  of  Anaesthetic  Inhalation ;  or,  Discovery  of  Anaes- 
thesia." By  William  J.  Morton,  M.  D.  Reprint,  with  additions  and  alter- 
ations,  from   Virginia    Medical    Monthly,   March,    1880.     New    York,    1880. 

49.  "  Statement  of  the  History  of  his  Discovery  of  the  Means  of  pre- 
venting all  Sensations  of  Pain  in  Surgical  Operations,  by  Administration 
of  Vapor  of  pure  Sulphuric  Ether,  mixed  with  Air,  by  Pulmonary  Inhala- 
tion."    By  Charles  T.  Jackson,  M.  D.     (No  date  or  source  given.) 

50.  Report  No.  114.  Thirtieth  Congress,  Second  Session.  Plouse  of 
Representatives.  William  T.  G.  Morton.  Sulphuric  Ether.  Feb.  23,  1849. 
Report  of  Dr.  Edwards,  from  the  Select  Committee  to  whom  the  subject 
was  reierred.     pp.  46. 

51.  Report  No.  114.  Thirtieth  Congress,  Second  Session.  House  of 
Representatives.  Minority  Report.  W.  T.  G.  Morton.  Feb.  28,  1849. 
pp.  99, 

52.  Thirty-second  Congress,  First  Session.  House  of  Representatives. 
William  T.  G.  Morton,  M.  D.  Sulphuric  Ether.  1852.  Referred  to  a 
Select  Committee.  Dr.  William  H.  Bissell,  of  Illinois,  chairman;  majority 
report,     pp.  128. 

53.  An  Examination  of  the  Question  of  Anaesthesia,  arising  on  the 
Memorial  of  Charles  Thomas  Welis,  presented  to  the  United  States  Senate, 
Second  Session,  Thirty-Second  Congress,  and  referred  to  a  Select  Com- 
mittee, of  which  Hon.  Isaac  P.  Walker  is  Chairman.  Prepared  for  the 
information  of  said  Committee  by  Hon.  Truman  Smith,  pp.  103.  (No 
date.) 

54.  Report  to  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  vindicating  the  Rights  of  Charles  T.  Jackson  to  the  Discovery  of 
the  Anaesthetic  Effects  of  Ether  Vapor,  and  disproving  the  Claims  of  W. 
T.  G.  Morton  to  that  Discovery.     Presented  to  the  House  of  Represcnta- 


ETHER,   1846  635 

tives  on  Aug.  28,  1852,  by  Hon.  Edward  Stanly  of  North  Carolina,  and 
Hon.  Alexander  Evans  of  Maryland,  members  of  the  Select  Committee  on 
the  Ether  Question.     Printed  by  authority  of  the  Committee,     pp.   57. 

55.  "  Sulphuric  Ether."  Debate  in  the  Senate,  Saturday,  Aug.  28,  1852. 
Supplement  to  the  "  Boston  Medical  and   Surgical  Journal,"  Oct.  6,   1852. 

56.  Statements,  supported  by  Evidence,  of  William  T.  G.  Morton,  M. 
D.,  on  his  Claim  to  the  Discovery  of  the  Anaesthetic  Properties  of  Ether, 
submitted  to  the  Honorable  the  Select  Committee  appointed  by  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States.  Thirty-Second  Congress,  Second  Session,  Jan.  21, 
1853.     Washington,   1853.     pp.   582. 

57.  Appendix  to  the  above ;  containing  Testimony  in  relation  to  the 
Claims  of  Dr.  Horace  Wells,  with  Evidence  explanatory  thereto,     pp.  135. 

58.  Thirty-second  Congress,  Second  Session.  In  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  Feb.  19,  1853.  Report  of  Committee,  No.  421.  Report  of  Mr. 
Walker;  containing  Views  of  the  Chairman  on  "An  Examination  of  the 
Question  of  Anaesthesia,"  prepared  by  the  Hon.  Truman  Smith,  a  member 
of  the  Committee,  and  printed  and  circulated  among  the  Members  of  the 
Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,     pp.  33. 

59.  The  Respectful  Notice,  Protest,  and  Memorial  of  W.  T.  G.  Morton, 
M.  D.,  Discoverer  and  Patentee  of  Etherization.  Addressed  to  His  Ex- 
cellency the  President,  the  Honorable  Secretaries  of  the  Treasury,  War, 
Navy,  and  Interior,  touching  the  use  of  his  Discovery  in  the  Public  Serv- 
ice, in  violation  of  his  vested  rights  under  the  Letters  Patent  of  the  United 
States.     Washington,  1854.     pp.  49. 

60.  Thirty-seventh  Congress,  second  Session,  Report  of  Committee,  No. 
89.  In  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  Feb.  14,  1863.  Mr.  H.  Wilson. 
Report  of  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs  and  the  Militia,  to  whom 
was  referred  the  Petition  of  William  T.  G.  Morton  asking  Compensation 
for  the  Discovery  and  Gift  to  his  Country  and  Mankind  of  the  application 
of  Etherial  Vapor  as  a  safe  and  practical  Anaesthesia,  or  pain-subduing 
Agent,     pp.  166. 

61.  "  Ether."  Chapter  XIV  in  "  A  Narrative  of  Medicine  in  America," 
1903,  by  J.  G.  Mumford,  M.  D. 


THE  WEBSTER  MURDER  TRIAL, 

1849. 


THE  WEBSTER  MURDER  TRIAL  639 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

THE  WEBSTER  MURDER  TRIAL. 
1849. 

The  Corporation  records  of  December  29th,  1849,  contain 
the  statement  that  "Professor  Horsford  is  appointed  Lecturer 
on  Chemistry  at  the  Medical  School  in  the  absence  of  the 
Erving  Professor  during  the  present  term."  The  same  records 
say,  July  10,  1850,  that  "Professor  Webster  resigns."  Be- 
hind these  commonplace  announcements  stands  a  remarkable 
story  of  crime.  The  principals  in  the  tragedy  as  well  as  the 
events  concerned  are  so  intimately  connected  with  the  Harvard 
Medical  School  that  they  warrant  some  discussion.* 

George  Parkman,  a  well  known  physician  of  Boston,  and 
donor  of  the  land  upon  which  the  North  Grove  Street 
Medical  School  building  was  erected,  disappeared  on  Friday, 
the  twenty-third  day  of  November,  1849.  He  was  last  seen 
alive  at  1-45  P.  M.,  entering  the  School.  Notices  of  his  dis- 
appearance and  offers  of  reward  for  information  leading  to 
his  discovery  were  sent  broadcast  on  Saturday  and  Sunday. 
On  Sunday,  John  W.  Webster,  Erving  Professor  of  Chem- 
istry, reported  to  the  family  of  Parkman  that  on  the  Friday 
previous  (the  day  of  the  disappearance)  Parkman  had  visited 
him  at  the  Medical  School  at  half-past  one  o'clock.  Professor 
Webster  lectured  four  times  a  week  to  the  medical  class,  in 
addition  to  his  duties  as  Erving  Professor  at  Cambridge.  It 
will  be  recalled  that  each  of  the  seven  professors  then  con- 
nected with  the  School  received  the  money  from  the  sale  of 


*  Taken  from  "  Report  of  the  Webster  Case,"  by  George  Bemis,  Esq. 


640  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

tickets  for  his  course  of  lectures.  Webster's  course  of  Lec- 
tures began  November  7th. 

Now  it  appears  that  Webster  owed  money  to  several  per- 
sons, including  Parkman;  Parkman  was  greatly  irritated  by 
the  failure  of  Webster  to  keep  his  promises  to  pay,  and  con- 
cluded that  the  opening  month  of  the  School  term,  when  the 
students  were  paying  for  their  tickets,  would  be  an  opportune 
time  to  collect  the  debt.  The  meeting  at  Webster's  laboratory 
was  in  response  to  a  message  sent  to  Parkman  to  call  at  the 
School  at  the  conclusion  of  his  (Webster's)  lecture,  Friday, 
November  23rd. 

A  diligent  and  extensive  search  failed  to  find  any  trace  of 
Parkman  until  Friday,  November  30th,  when  a  pelvis,  a  right 
thigh,  and  left  leg,  together  with  a  towel  marked  "W"  were 
found  in  a  vault  of  the  privy  connected  with  Webster's  pri- 
vate laboratory  at  the  Medical  School.  Further  search  of  the 
School  revealed  a  thorax  and  a  left  thigh  packed  in  a  tea- 
chest  filled  with  tan  and  covered  with  minerals,  in  a  corner  of 
the  same  laboratory.  In  the  furnace  of  the  laboratory  was 
a  large  mass  of  human  bones  fused  in  slag  and  cinders.  Here, 
too,  were  found  the  block  of  mineral  teeth  and  the  gold  filling 
which  proved  the  connecting  link  in  identifying  the  remains 
as  those  of  Parkman. 

Webster  had  in  the  meantime  (Friday  night,  the  30th)  been 
arrested  at  his  house  in  Cambridge,  and  brought  over  to  the 
Medical  School,  where  the  disarticulated  portions  of  the  body 
of  Parkman  had  been  arranged  to  await  his  inspection.  It 
is  not  necessary  to  follow  the  testimony  or  the  scenes  con- 
nected with  the  trial  of  twelve  days  which  ended  April  1, 
1850.  This  was  a  period  of  grievous  mortification  and  dis- 
tress for  all  Harvard  men.  Before  the  ordeal  ended,  the 
President  of  Harvard  College,  the  Professors  of  the  Medical 
School,  the  Chief  Justice,  the  Associate  Justices,  the  Counsel 
for  the  Commonwealth,  and  Counsel  for  the  Prisoner  all  bore 


THE  WEBSTER  MURDER  TRIAL  641 

their  unhappy  but  honorable  share.  Nor  did  the  unfortunate 
prisoner  himself  long  resist  the  final  evidence,  as  may  be  seen 
from  the  following  confession  of  his  crime : 

"  Professor  Webster's  Confessional  Statement,  as  reported  to  the  Council 
by  Rev.  Dr.  Putnam. 

"  On  Tuesday,  the  20th  of  November,  I  sent  the  note  to  Dr.  Parkman, 
which,  it  appears,  was  carried  by  the  boy  Maxwell.  I  handed  it  to  Little- 
field  unsealed  It  was  to  ask  Dr.  Parkman  to  call  at  my  rooms  on  Friday 
the  23rd,  after  my  lecture.  He  had  become  of  late  very  importunate  for 
his  pay.  He  had  threatened  me  with  a  suit,  to  put  an  officer  into  my 
house,  and  to  drive  me  from  my  professorship,  if  I  did  not  pay  him. 
The  purport  of  my  note  was  simply  to  ask  the  conference.  I  did  not  tell 
him  in  it  what  I  could  do,  or  what  I  had  to  say  about  my  payment.  I 
wished  to  gain,  for  those  few  days,  a  release  from  his  solicitations,  to 
which  I  was  liable  every  day  on  occasions  and  in  a  manner  very  disagree- 
able and  alarming  to  me.  and  also  to  avert,  for  so  long  a  time  at  least,  the 
fulfilment  of  recent  threats  of  severe  measures.  I  did  not  expect  to  be 
able  to  pay  him  when  Friday  should  arrive.  My  purpose  was,  if  he  should 
accede  to  the  proposed  interview,  to  state  to  him  my  embarrassments  and 
utter  inability  to  pay  him  at  present,  to  apologize  for  those  things  in  my 
conduct  which  had  offended  him,  to  throw  myself  upon  his  mercy,  to  beg 
for  further  time  and  indulgence  for  the  sake  of  my  family,  if  not  for  my 
own,  and  to  make  as  good  promises  to  him  as  I  could  have  any  hope  of 
keeping. 

"  I  did  not  hear  from  him  on  that  day,  nor  the  next  (Wednesday)  ;  but 
I  found  that  on  Thursday  he  had  been  abroad  in  pursuit  of  me,  though 
without  finding  me.  T  feared  that  he  had  forgotten  the  appointment,  or 
else  did  not  mean  to  wait  for  it.  I  feared  he  would  come  in  upon  me  at 
my  lecture  hour,  or  while  I  was  preparing  my  experiments  for  it.  There- 
fore I  called  at  his  house  on  that  morning  (Friday),  between  eight  and 
nine,  to  remind  him  of  my  wish  to  see  him  at  the  College  at  half-past  one, 
— my  lecture  closing  at  one.  I  did  not  stop  to  talk  with  him  then,  for  I 
expected  the  conversation  would  be  a  long  one,  and  I  had  my  lecture  to 
prepare  for.  It  was  necessary  for  me  to  save  my  time,  and  also  to  keep 
my  mind  free  from  other  exciting  matters.  Dr.  Parkman  agreed  to  call 
on  me,  as  I  proposed. 

"  He  came,  accordingly,  between  half-past  one  and  two.  He  came  in 
at  the  lecture-room  door.  I  was  engaged  in  removing  some  glasses  from 
my  lecture-room  table  into  the  room  in  the  rear,  called  the  upper  labora- 
tory. He  came  rapidly  down  the  steps  and  followed  me  into  the  labora- 
tory. He  immediately  addressed  me  with  great  energy :  '  Are  you  ready 
for  me,  sir?  Have  you  got  the  money?'  I  replied,  'No,  Dr.  Parkman'; 
and  was  then  beginning  to  state  my  condition,  and  make  my  appeal  to  him. 


642  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

He  would  not  listen  lo  me,  but  interrupted  me  with  much  vehemence. 
He  called  me  '  scoundrel '  and  '  liar,'  and  went  on  heaping  upon  me  the 
most  bitter  taunts  and  opprobrious  epithets.  While  he  was  talking  he 
drew  a  handful  of  papers  from  his  pocket,  and  took  from  among  them  my 
two  notes,  and  also  an  old  letter  from  Dr.  Hosack,  written  many  years 
ago,  and  congratulating  him  (Dr.  P.)  on  his  success  in  getting  me  ap- 
pointed professor  of  chemistry.  '  You  see,'  he  said,  '  I  got  you  into  your 
office,  and  now  I  will  get  you  out  of  it.'  He  put  back  into  his  pocket  all 
the  papers,  except  the  letter  and  the  notes.  I  cannot  tell  how  long  the 
torrent  of  threats  and  invectives  continued,  and  I  can  now  recall  to  mem- 
ory but  a  small  portion  of  what  he  said.  At  first  I  kept  interposing,  trying 
to  pacify  him,  so  that  I  might  obtain  the  object  for  which  I  had  sought 
the  interview.  But  I  could  not  stop  him,  and  soon  my  temper  was  up.  I 
forgot  every  thing.  I  felt  nothing  but  the  sting  of  his  words.  I  was  ex- 
cited to  the  highest  degree  of  passion ;  and  while  he  was  speaking  and 
gesticulating  in  the  most  violent  and  menacing  manner,  thrusting  the  letter 
and  his  fist  into  my  face,  in  my  fury  I  seized  whatever  thing  was  handiest, 
— it  was  a  stick  of  wood, — and  dealt  him  an  instantaneous  blow  with  all 
the  force  that  passion  could  give  it.  I  did  not  know,  nor  think,  nor  care, 
where  I  should  hit  him,  nor  how  hard,  nor  what  the  effect  would  be.  It 
was  on  the  side  of  his  head,  and  there  was  nothing  to  break  the  force  of 
the  blow.  He  fell  instantly  upon  the  pavement.  There  was  no  second 
blew.  He  did  not  move.  I  stooped  down  over  him,  and  he  seemed  to  be 
lifeless.  Blood  flowed  from  his  mouth,  and  I  got  a  sponge  and  wiped  it 
away.  I  got  some  ammonia  and  applied  it  to  his  nose ;  but  without  effect. 
Perhaps  I  spent  ten  minutes  in  attempts  to  resuscitate  him;  but  I  found 
that  he  was  absolutely  dead.  In  my  horror  and  consternation  I  ran  in- 
stinctively to  the  doors  and  bolted  them, — the  doors  of  the  lecture  room, 
and  of  the  laboratory  below.     And  then,  what  was  I  to  do? 

"  It  never  occurred  to  me  to  go  out  and  declare  what  had  been  done, 
and  obtain  assistance.  I  saw  nothing  but  the  alternative  of  a  successful 
removal  and  concealment  of  the  body,  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  infamy  and 
destruction  on  the  other.  The  first  thing  I  did,  as  soon  as  I  could  do  any- 
thing, was  to  drag  the  body  into  the  private  room  adjoining.  There  I 
took  off  the  clothes,  and  began  putting  them  into  the  fire  which  was 
burning  in  the  upper  laboratory.  They  were  all  consumed  there  that 
afternoon, — with  papers,  pocket-book,  or  whatever  else  they  may  have 
contained.  I  did  not  examine  the  pockets,  nor  remove  anything  except  the 
watch ;  I  saw  that,  or  the  chain  of  it,  hanging  out ;  and  I  took  it  and 
threw  it  over  the  bridge  as  I  went  to  Cambridge. 

"  The  next  move  was  to  get  the  body  into  the  sink  which  stands  in  the 
small  private  room.  By  setting  the  body  partially  erect  against  the  corner, 
and  getting  up  into  the  sink  myself,  I  succeeded  in  drawing  it  up.  There 
it  was  entirely  dismembered.     It  was  quickly  done,  as  a  work  of  terrible 


THE  WEBSTER  MURDER  TRIAL  643 

and  desperate  necessity.  The  only  instrument  used  was  the  knife  found 
by  the  officers  in  the  ten-chest,  and  which  I  kept  for  cutting  corks.  I  made 
no  use  of  the  Turkish  knife,  as  it  was  called  at  the  trial.  That  had  long 
been  kept  on  my  parlor  mantel-piece  in  Cambridge,  as  a  curious  orna- 
ment. My  daughters  frequently  cleaned  it ;  hence  the  marks  of  oil  and 
whiting  on  it.  1  had  lately  brought  it  into  Boston  to  get  the  silver  sheath 
repaired. 

''  While  dismembering  the  body,  a  stream  of  Cochituate  was  running 
through  the  sink,  carrying  off  the  blood  in  a  pipe  that  passed  down  through 
the  lower  laboratory.  There  must  have  been  a  leak  in  the  pipe,  for  the 
ceiling   below   was   ?tained   immediately   round    it. 

"  There  was  a  fire  burning  in  the  furnace  of  the  lower  laboratory.  Lit- 
tlefield  was  mistaken  in  thinking  there  had  never  been  a  fire  there.  He 
had  probably  never  kindled  one,  but  I  had  done  it  myself  several  times. 
I  had  done  it  that  day  for  the  purpose  of  making  oxygen  gas.  The  head 
and  viscera  were  put  into  that  furnace  that  day,  and  the  fuel  heaped  on. 
I  did  not  examine  at  night  to  see  to  what  degree  they  were  consumed. 
Some  of  the  extremities,  I  believe,  were  put  there  that  day. 

"  The  pelvis  and  some  of  the  limbs,  perhaps  all,  were  put  under  the 
lid  of  the  lecture-room  table  in  what  is  called  the  well, — a  deep  sink  lined 
with  lead.  A  stream  of  Cochituate  was  turned  into  it,  and  kept  running 
through  it  all  Friday  night.  The  thorax  was  put  into  a  similar  well  in  the 
lower  laboratory,  which  1  filled  with  water,  and  threw  in  a  quantity  of 
potash  which  1  found  there.  This  disposition  of  the  remains  was  not 
changed  till  after  the  visit  of  the  officers  on  Monday. 

"  When  the  body  had  been  thus  all  disposed  of,  I  cleared  away  all  traces 
of  what  had  been  done.  I  took  up  the  slick  with  which  the  fatal  blow  had 
been  struck.  It  proved  to  be  the  stump  of  a  large  grape  vine,  say  two 
inches  in  diameter,  and  two  feet  long.  It  was  one  of  two  or  more  pieces 
which  I  had  carried  in  from  Cambridge  long  before,  for  the  purpose  of 
showing  the  effect  of  certain  chemical  fluids  in  coloring  wood,  by  being 
absorbed  into  the  pores.  The  grape  vine,  being  a  very  porous  wood,  was 
well  suited  to  this  purpose.  Another  longer  stick  had  been  used  as  in 
tended,  and  exhibited  to  the  students  This  one  had  not  been  used.  I  put 
it  into  the  fire. 

"  I  took  up  the  two  notes,  either  from  the  table  or  the  floor, — I  think 
the  table, — close  by  where  Dr.  P.  had  fallen.  I  seized  an  old  metallic  pen 
lying  on  the  table,  dashed  it  across  the  face  and  through  the  signatures, 
and  put  them  in  my  pocket.  I  do  not  know  why  I  did  this  rather  than 
put  them  into  the  fire ;  for  I  had  not  considered  for  a  moment  what  effect 
either  mode  of  disposing  of  them  would  have  on  the  mortgage,  or  my 
indebtedness  to  Dr.  P.  and  the  other  persons  interested:  and  I  had  not  yet 
given  a  single  thought  to  the  question  as  to  what  account  1  should  give 
of  the  objects  or  resuhs  of  my  interview  with  Dr.  Parkman. 


644  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

"I  never  saw  the  sledge-hammer  spoken  of  by  Littlefield,  and  never 
knew  of  its  existance ;  at  least,  I  have  no  recollection  of  it. 

"  I  left  the  College  to  go  home,  as  late  as  six  o'clock.  I  collected  myself 
as  well  as  I  could,  that  I  might  meet  my  family  and  others  with  com- 
posure. On  Saturday  I  visited  my  rooms  at  the  College,  but  made  no 
change  in  the  disposition  of  the  remains,  and  laid  no  plans  as  to  my  future 
course. 

"  On  Saturday  evening  I  read  the  notice  in  the  Transcript  respecting  the 
disappearance.  I  was  then  deeply  impressed  with  the  necessity  of  imme- 
diately taking  some  ground  as  to  the  character  of  my  interview  with  Dr. 
P.,  for  I  saw  that  it  must  become  known  that  I  had  such  an  interview, 
as  I  had  appointed  it,  first,  by  an  unsealed  note  on  Tuesday,  and  on  Friday 
had  myself  called  at  his  house  in  open  day  and  ratified  the  arrangement, 
and  had  there  been  seen  and  probably  overheard  by  the  man-servant ;  and 
I  knew  not  by  how  many  persons  Dr.  P.  might  have  been  seen  entering 
my  rooms,  or  how  many  persons  he  might  have  told  by  the  way  where  he 
was  going.  The  interview'  would  in  all  probability  be  known,  and  I  must 
be  ready  to  explain  it.  The  question  exercised  me  much  ;  but  on  Sunday 
my  course  was  taken.  I  would  go  into  Boston,  and  be  the  first  to  declare 
myself  the  person,  as  yet  unknown,  with  whom  Dr.  P.  had  made  the  ap- 
pointment. I  would  take  the  ground  that  I  had  invited  him  to  the  Col- 
lege to  pay  him  money,  and  that  I  had  paid  him  accordingly.  I  fixed  upon 
the  sum  by  taking  the  small  note  and  adding  interest,  which,  it  appears, 
1  cast  erroneously. 

"  If  I  had  thought  of  this  course  earlier,  I  should  have  deposited  Pettee's 
check  for  $90  in  the  Charles  River  Bank  on  Saturday,  but  should  have 
suppressed  it  as  going  so  far  towards  making  up  the  sum  which  I  was  to 
profess  to  have  paid  the  day  before,  and  which  Pettee  knew  I  had  by  me 
at  the  hour  of  the  interview.  It  had  not  occurred  to  me  that  I  should 
ever  show  the  notes  cancelled  in  proof  of  the  payment;  if  it  had,  I  should 
have  destroyed  the  large  note,  and  let  it  be  inferred  that  it  was  gone  with 
the  missing  man ;  and  I  should  only  have  kept  the  small  one,  which  was 
all  that  I  could  pretend  to  have  paid.  My  single  thought  was  concealment 
and  safety.  Everything  else  was  incidental  to  that.  I  was  in  no  state  to 
consider  my  ulterior  pecuniary  interests.  Money,  though  I  needed  it  so 
much,  was  of  no  account  with  me  in  that  condition  of  mind. 

"If  I  had  designed  and  premeditated  the  homicide  of  Dr.  P.  in  order 
to  get  possession  of  the  notes  and  cancel  my  debt,  I  not  only  should  not 
have  deposited  Pettee's  check  the  next  day.  but  I  should  have  made  some 
show  of  getting  and  having  the  money  the  morning  before.  I  should  have 
drawn  my  money  from  the  bank,  and  taken  occasion  to  mention  to  the 
cashier,  that  I  had  a  sum  to  take  out  that  day  for  Dr.  P.,  and  the  same  to 
Henchman,  when   I  borrowed   the  $10.     I   should  have  remarked,   that   I 


THE  WEBSTER  MURDER  TRIAL  645 

was  so  much  short  of  a  large  sum  that  I  was  to  pay  to  Parkman.  I  bor- 
rowed the  money  of  Henchman  as  mere  pocket-money  for  the  day. 

"  If  I  had  intended  the  homicide  of  Dr.  P.,  I  should  not  have  made  the 
appointment  with  him  twice,  and  each  time  in  so  open  a  manner  that  other 
persons  would  almost  certainly  know  it.  And  I  should  not  have  invited 
him  to  my  room  at  an  hour  when  the  College  would  have  been  full  of 
students  and  others,  and  an  hour  when  I  was  most  likely  to  receive  calls 
from  others;  for  that  was  an  hour — just  after  the  lecture — at  which  per- 
sons having  business  with  me.  or  in  my  rooms  were  always  directed  to  call. 

"'  I  looked  into  my  rooms  Sunday  afternoon,  but  did  nothing. 

"  After  the  first  visit  of  the  officers,  1  took  the  pelvis  and  some  of  the 
limbs  from  the  upper  well,  and  threw  them  into  the  vault  under  the  privy. 
I  took  the  thorax  from  the  well  below,  and  packed  it  in  the  tea-chest,  as 
found.  My  own  impression  has  been  that  this  was  not  done  till  after  the 
second  visit  of  the  officers,  which  was  on  Tuesday ;  but  Kingsley's  testi- 
mony shows  that  it  must  have  been  done  sooner.  The  perforation  of  the 
thorax  had  been  made  by  the  knife  at  the  time  oj  removing  the  viscera. 

"  On  Wednesday,  I  put  on  kindlings  and  made  a  fire  in  the  furnace 
below,  having  first  poked  down  the  ashes.  Some  of  the  limbs — I  cannot 
remember  what  ones  or  how  many — were  consumed  at  that  time.  This 
was  the  last  I  had  to  do  with  the  remains. 

"  The  tin  box  was  designed  to  receive  the  thorax,  though  I  had  not  con- 
cluded where  I  should  finally  put  the  box.  The  fish-hooks,  tied  up  as 
grapples,  were  to  be  used  for  drawing  up  the  parts  in  the  vault,  whenever 
I  should  determine  how  to  dispose  of  them.  And  yet,  strange  enough,  I 
had  a  confused  double  object  in  ordering  the  box  and  making  the  grap- 
ples. I  had  before  intended  to  get  such  things  to  send  to  Fayal ; — the  box 
to  hold  plants  and  other  articles  which  I  wished  to  protect  from  salt 
water  and  the  sea  air, — and  the  hooks  to  be  used  there  in  obtaining  coraline 
plants  from  the  sea.  It  was  this  previously  intended  use  of  them  that  sug- 
gested and  mixed  itself  up  with  the  idea  of  the  other  application.  I  doubt, 
even  now,  to  which  use  they  would  have  applied.  I  had  not  used  the  hooks 
at  the  time  of  the  discovery. 

"  The  tan  put  into  the  tea-chest  was  taken  from  a  barrel  of  it  that  had 
been  in  the  laboratory  some  time.  The  bag  of  tan  brought  in  on  Monday 
was  not  used,  nor  intended  to  be  used.  It  belonged  to  a  quantity  obtained 
by  me  a  long  time  ago  for  experiments  in  tanning,  and  was  sent  in  by  the 
family  to  get  it  out  of  the  way.  Its  being  sent  just  at  that  time  was  acci- 
dental. 

"I  was  not  aware  that   I  had  put  the  knife  into  the  tea-chest. 

"  The  stick  found  in  the  saucer  of  ink  was  for  making  coarse  diagrams 
on  cloth. 

"  The  bunch  of  '  filed  '  keys  had  been  long  ago  picked  up  by  me  in  Fruit 
street,  and  thrown  carelessly  into  a  drawer.     I  never  examined  them,  and 


646  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

do  not  know  whether  they  would  fit  any  of  the  locks  of  the  College  or 
not.  If  there  were  other  keys  fitting  doors  with  which  I  had  nothing  to 
do,  I  suppose  they  must  have  been  duplicates,  or  keys  of  former  locks, 
left  there  by  the  mechanic  or  janitor.  I  know  nothing  about  them,  and 
should  never  be  likely  to  notice  them  amongst  the  multitude  of  articles, 
large  and  small,  and  of  all  kinds,  collected  in  my  rooms.  The  janitor  had 
furnished  me  a  key  to  the  dissecting  room  for  the  admission  of  medical 
friends  visiting  the  College :  but  I  had  never  used  it. 

'  The  nitric  acid  on  the  stairs  was  not  used  to  remove  spots  of  blood,  but 
dropped  by  accident. 

"  When  the  officers  called  for  me  Friday,  30th,  I  was  in  doubt  whether 
I  was  under  arrest,  or  whether  a  more  strict  search  of  my  rooms  was  to 
be  had;  the  latter  hypothesis  being  hardly  less  appalling  than  the  former. 
When  I  found  that  we  went  over  Craigie's  bridge,  I  thought  the  arrest 
most  probable.  When  I  found  that  the  carriage  was  stopping  at  the  jail, 
I  was  sure  of  my  fate ;  and  before  leaving  the  carriage,  I  took  a  dose  of 
strychnine  from  my  pocket  and  swallowed  it.  I  had  prepared  it  in  the  shape 
of  a  pill  before  1  leit  my  laboratory  on  the  23rd.  I  thought  I  could  not 
bear  to  survive  detection.  I  thought  it  was  a  large  dose.  The  state  of 
my  nervous  system  probably  defeated  its  action,  partially.  The  effects  of 
the  poison  were  terrible  beyond  description.  It  was  in  operation  at  the 
College,  and  before  I   went  there ;   but  more  severely  afterwards. 

"'  I  wrote  but  on£  of  the  anonymous  letters  produced  at  the  trial, — the 
one  mailed  at  East  Cambridge. 

"  The  '  little  bundle,'  referred  to  in  the  letter  detained  by  the  jailor,  con- 
tained only  a  bottle  of  citric  acid,  for  domestic  use.  I  had  seen  it  stated 
in  a  newspaper  that  I  had  purchased  a  quantity  of  oxalic  acid,  which  it 
was  presumed  was  to  be  used  in  removing  blood-stains.  I  wished  the 
parcel  to  be  kept  untouched,  that  it  might  be  shown,  if  there  should  be 
occasion,   what   it   really   was   that    1    had  purchased. 

"  I  have  drawn  up  in  separate  papers  an  explanation  of  the  use  I  in- 
tended to  make  of  the  blood  sent  for  on  Thursday,  the  22d,  and  of  the 
conversation  with   Littlefield  about  the  dissecting  vault. 

"  I  think  that  Pettee,  in  his  testimony  at  the  trial,  put  too  strongly  my 
words  about  having  settled  with  Dr.  Parkman.  Whatever  I  did  say,  of 
the  kind,  was  predicated  on  the  hope  I  entertained  that  I  should  be  able  to 
pacify  Dr.  Parkman  and  make  souk-  arrangement  with  him  ;  and  was  said 
in  order  to  quiet  Pettee,  who  was  becoming  restive  under  the  solicitation 
of  Dr.  Parkman." 

This  confession  was  sent  with  several  petitions  for  a  par- 
don, or,  at  least,  a  commutation  of  the  sentence,  and  was 
submitted  to  the  Governor's  Council.     That  body  spent  much 


THE  WEBSTER  MURDER  TRIAL  647 

time  on  the  subject,  and  finally  reported  that  "the  palliating 
facts  and  circumstances  set  forth  in  the  confession  have  not 
been  so  confirmed  by  other  evidence  and  circumstances  as  to 
form  a  proper  and  sufficient  basis  for  Executive  interference." 
Webster  was  hanged  on  August  30th,  1850. 

The  interest  in  the  trial  may  be  judged  by  the  fact  that  more  than  60,000 
persons  attended  it.  The  Medical  School  was  opened  for  public  inspection 
of  the  scene  of  the  murder,  and  more  than  5,000  persons  visited  it  during 
one  day. 


BODY  SNATCHING  AND  ANATOMY  LAWS. 


BODY-SNATCHING— ANATOMY  LAWS        C51 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

BODY  SNATCHING  AND  ANATOMY   LAWS. 

There  is  no  more  self-evident  truth  than  that  the  basis  of 
all  medical  knowledge  is  anatomy.  No  rational  medicine,  no 
safe  surgery,  can  possibly  exist  without  that  knowledge;  and 
the  obvious  corollary  is  that  a  knowledge  of  anatomy  can  be 
acquired  only  by  dissection.  That  is  the  subject  of  this  chap- 
ter.* 

The  former  prejudice,  superstition,  opposition,  and  open 
violence  against  a  pursuit  of  this  study  are  little  appreciated 
to-day.  Yet  such  antagonism  is  an  affair  of  comparatively 
recent  date.  Body-snatching  and  the  rise  of  modern  anatomy 
went  together.  No  recent  age,  country,  or  school  has  been 
altogether  free  from  this  difficulty, — though  a  broader  popular 
intelligence  has  brought  its  remedies.  Even  to-day  we  find 
the  political  demagogue  appealing  to  popular  prejudice  with 
arguments  mediaeval  and  unjust.  No  medical  school  has 
escaped  the  evils,  and  Harvard  has  suffered  with  the  rest. 
Let  us  then  review  the  question  through  its  various  stages. 

In  modern  times  it  is  possible  to  trace  dissection  back  to<  the 
fourteenth  century.  As  early  as  13 19  a  teacher  and  his  pupils 
were  tried  in  Bologna  for  body-snatching.  In  1405  the  Uni- 
versity of  Bologna  decreed  that  "  no  doctor  or  student  or  any- 
one else  shall  appropriate  a  corpse  without  the  permission  of  the 
Rector."  With  Vesalius  (1514-1564)  modern  anatomy  took 
on  new  life,  and  so  one  is  not  surprised  to  learn  of  the  people  of 

*  An  admirable  presentation  of  the  Anatomy  laws  and  Body-snatching  is 
given  by  Thomas  Dwight,  M.  D.,  Parkman  Professor  of  Anatomy  at 
Harvard  University,  "Forum,"  December,  1896. 


652  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Padua  demanding  in  1550  that  the  laws  against  the  practice 
of  body-snatching  be  more  strictly  enforced.  Vesalius's  fame 
as  an  anatomist  makes  it  evident  enough  that  he  was  favored 
with  necessary  although  unlawful  "material."  The  rise  of 
the  French  school  in  the  sixteenth  century  shows  that  Paris 
was  a  good  centre  for  "material."  In  fact,  Moliere  suggests 
that  public  dissections  became  as  fashionable  in  France  as  are 
bull  fights  in  Spain.  Whether  the  custom  ever  gained  much 
of  a  foot-hold  in  Germany  is  not  clear,  yet  it  is  a  fact  that 
Rolfink  was  directed  by  his  sovereign  to  perform  a  dissection 
for  the  entertainment  of  distinguished  guests  at  court.  Body- 
snatching  became  known  as  "Rolfinked." 

In  Great  Britain  the  bodies  of  a  limited  number  of  criminals 
were  assigned  by  law  for  dissection,  but  it  is  needless  to  say 
that  the  demand  far  exceeded  the  lawful  supply,  and  that  the 
deficiency  was  made  good  invito  domino.  It  is  worthy  of 
recording  that  in  England  the  apprenticeship  contracts  of 
the  early  eighteenth  century  period  held  a  clause  against  stu- 
dents robbing  graves.  An  enraged  mob  tried  to  emphasize 
this  clause  in  1725  by  threatening  to  destroy  the  buildings  of 
the  College  of  Surgeons.  The  later  English  story  of  this  traffic 
is  perhaps  as  black  as  any  in  the  annals  of  crime.* 

In  America  the  reported  dissection  by  Giles  Firmin  stands 
alone  in  the  Colonial  period,  and  so  far  as  I  know  there  were 
no  anatomy  laws  enacted  prior  to  the  adoption  of  the  Federal 
Constitution.  The  provincial  courts  made  provision  to  give 
the  bodies  of  criminals  executed  by  law  to  certain  physicians. 
Before  the  Revolution  there  was  a  class  of  students  under 
Joseph  and  John  Warren  who  were  able  to  study  dissection 
by  means  of  subjects  obtained  from  among  the  soldiers  who 
died  without  claim  by  their  relations.  This  was  the  Ana- 
tomical Society  of  students,  formed  some  time  prior  to  1771, 

*  See  Bransby  Cooper's  "Life  of  Sir  Astley  Cooper"  for  a  full  descrip- 
tion of  these  horrors. 


BODY-SNATCHING— ANATOMY  LAWS        653 

probably  the  first  society  organized  by  medical  students  in  this 
country.  The  Revolution  offered  further  opportunities  for 
pursuing  the  study,  and  in  1781  John  Warren  began  the  lec- 
tures which  attracted  the  attention  of  the  Harvard  President 
and  Fellows.  The  scarcity  of  bodies  and  the  boldness  of  the 
resurrectionists  in  England  about  the  time  that  our  Revolu- 
tion came  to  an  end,  resulted  in  many  incidents  of  imitation 
in  this  country,  especially  among  medical  students.  One  of 
these  students  of  the  Bob  Sawyer  type  was  the  cause  of  that 
famous  "Doctors'  Mob"  in  New  York  in  1788. 

The  only  legislative  result  in  New  York  was  an  act  passed 
in  the  succeeding  year  which  provided  severe  punishment  for 
the  violation  of  graves,  and  gave  the  court  discretion  as  to 
the  disposal  of  the  bodies  of  those  executed  for  murder,  arson, 
and  burglary.  This  same  provision  was  the  rule  in  Massa- 
chusetts at  the  close  of  the  war.  The  number  of  bodies  thus 
obtained  was  scarcely  ever  more  than  two  a  year.  Conse- 
quently those  who  gave  lectures  on  anatomy  and  surgery  pro- 
cured their  "subjects"  in  the  same  dangerous  way  as  did  their 
confreres  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia. 

John  C.  Warren,  in  his  "Biographical  Notes"  says*,  "while 
in  College,  I  began  the  business  of  getting  subjects  in  1796," 
and  he  relates  the  circumstances  of  a  midnight  visit  to  the 
North  Burying  ground.  "When  my  father  came  up  in  the 
morning  to  lecture,  and  found  I  had  been  engaged  in  this 
scrape,  he  was  very  much  alarmed ;  but  when  the  body  was 
uncovered,  and  he  saw  what  a  fine  healthy  subject  it  was,  he 
seemed  to  be  as  much  pleased  as  I  ever  saw  him.  This  body 
lasted  the  course  through."  J.  C.  Warren  further  says  that 
he  was  able  to  procure  a  large  supply  of  bodies  through  the 
medical  students,  for  the  dissecting  rooms  opened  in  1806  at 
49  Marlborough  Street. 


*  "  Life  of  John  C.  Warren,"  vol.  I,  pp.  404-420. 


654  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

The  increase  in  the  number  of  medical  schools  in  New  Eng- 
land ;  the  private  dissecting  rooms  opened  in  Boston ;  the  bitter 
public  discussions  over  the  petition  to  establish  another  med- 
ical school  in  Boston ;  the  application  of  the  Corporation  of 
Harvard  for  a  legislative  grant  to  build  a  new  building  for 
the  Medical  School, — all  this  gradually  convinced  the  popular 
mind  that  something  should  be  done  to  prevent  the  robbing 
of  graves.  The  result  was  the  passage  of  a  legislative  Act,* 
February  13,  18 12,  making  it  obligatory,  under  penalty  of 
fine  or  imprisonment,  upon  sheriffs  of  jails,  either  to  deliver 
a  dead  body  to  relatives  or  friends  of  the  deceased,  or  to  see 
that  it  was  properly  buried.  This  law  was  soon  followed  by 
another  entitled, 

"  An  Act  to  protect  the  Sepulchres  of  the  Dead." 

'■Chap.  175." 

"  Sect.  1.  BE  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives, 
in  General  Court  assembled,  and  by  the  authority  of  the  same,  That  if  any 
person,  not  being  authorized  by  the  board  of  health,  or  the  selectmen  of 
any  town  in  this  Commonwealth,  shall  knowingly  and  wilfully  dig  up, 
remove  or  carry  away  or  aid  or  assist  in  digging  up,  removing  or  carrying 
away  any  human  body,  or  the  remains  thereof,  such  person  or  persons,  so 
offending,  shall,  on  conviction  of  such  offence,  in  the  Supreme  Judicial 
Court  of  this  Commonwealth,  be  imprisoned,  not  more  than  one  year,  or 
fined,  not  more  than  one  thousand  dollars,  according  to  the  nature  and  ag- 
gravation of  the  offence. 

"  Sect.  2.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That  if  any  person  or  persons  know- 
ingly and  wilfully  receive,  conceal,  or  dispose  of  any  human  body,  or  the 
remains  thereof,  which  shall  have  been  dug  up,  removed,  or  carried  away 
in  the  manner  described  in  the  first  section  of  this  Act,  he  or  they  shall  be 
subject  to  the  same  forfeitures  and  penalties,  as  in  said  section  is  pro- 
vided, on  conviction  thereof  in  the  court  aforesaid :  Provided  however, 
That  nothing  in  this  Act  shall  be  so  construed  as  to  affect  the  power  or 
authority  in  the  courts  of  the  United  States,  or  this  Commonwealth,  or 
of  any  person  acting  under  the  authority  of  the  same,  in  removing  or 
disposing  of  the  bodies  of  persons  executed  pursuant  to  any  sentence  of 
such  Court. 

"  Sect.  3.     Be  it  further  enacted.  That  all  fines,  accruing  under  this  Act, 

*  Acts  of  181 1,  Chapter  102,  General  Laws  of  Massachusetts. 


BODY-SNATCHING— ANATOMY  LAWS        655 

shall  enure,  one  half  to  the  informer,  and  one  half  to  the  town  in  which 
the  offence  is  committed.     (March  2,  1815.)  " 

This  was  the  first  law  upon  the  subject ;  previously,  the 
matter  had  been  left  to  the  common  law.  It  may  be  interest- 
ing to  learn  how  the  common  law  managed.  You  may  remem- 
ber that  the  Legislature  gave  to  the  Massachusetts  Medical 
Society  the  power  to  require,  and  it  was  made  their  duty  to 
require,  of  all  persons  entering  on  the  practice  of  medicine, 
an  adequate  knowledge  of  anatomy.  Now,  however,  the  Gen- 
eral Court  raised  up  a  legal  barrier  to  dissection.  How  then 
was  an  adequate  knowledge  of  anatomy  to  be  acquired?  As- 
suming that  no  intelligent  community  believed  the  study  of 
anatomy  would  be  pursued  without  dissection,  the  law  just 
enacted  compelled  the  surgeon  to  seek  instruction  elsewhere, 
or  unlawfully  to  obtain  bodies  at  home.  New  England  med- 
ical students  did  both,  and  the  Harvard  Medical  School  pro- 
cured bodies  at  home  and  abroad.  The  truth  is  frankly  told 
by  John  C.  Warren  thus :  "We  were  obliged  to  resort  to  the 
most  dangerous  expedients,  and  finally  to  the  city  of  New 
York,  at  a  great  expense  of  money,  and  great  hazard  of  being 
discovered.  Two  or  three  times,  our  agents  were  actually 
seized  by  the  police,  and  recognized  to  appear  in  court.  One 
or  two  were  brought  in  guilty,  and  punished  by  fine;  but  the 
law  officers  being  more  liberal  in  their  views  than  the  city 
officers,  made  the  penalty  as  small  as  possible.  Constant  efforts 
were  necessary  to  carry  on  this  business  and  every  species  of 
danger  was  involved  in  its  prosecution." 

Warren  tells  of  the  hazards  of  procuring  bodies  from  the 
grave-yards  in  and  about  Boston:  "Sometimes  popular  ex- 
citement was  got  up,  and  the  Medical  College  threatened.  I 
had  reason,  at  some  periods,  even  to  apprehend  attacks  on  my 
dwelling-house.  Whenever  the  lectures  approached,  a  state 
of  increased  anxiety  came  with  them.  At  length  the  pressure 
was  so  great  that  it  was  resolved  to  make  an  effort  on  the 


656  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Legislature,  though  with  very  little  hope  of  success.  In  the 
meantime,  we  furnished  our  students  with  subjects  at  the 
same  rate  as  at  present,  obtaining  them  from  New  York  at 
twenty-five  dollars,  and  distributing  them  among  the  students 
at  five." 

The  two  following  communications  explain  different  solu- 
tions of  the  difficulties  caused  by  the  Act  of  1815  : 

"  Dear  Sir :  I  have  not  replied  to  your  note  earlier  because  I  could  not 
ascertain  until  this  morning  whether  a  subject  could  be  procured  at  this 
time.  I  am  sorry  to  inform  you  that  there  is  not  an  immediate  prospect 
of  one,  but  when  there  is,  will  send  you  word.  The  place  where  I  gen- 
erally obtain  them  is  the  Charlestown  Hospital — where  through  the  kind- 
ness of  Dr.  T. — it  is  wholly  unattended  with  the  unpleasant  circumstances 
&  risks  usually  connected  with  such  business.  If  the  obstacle  recently 
thrown  in  the  way  by  our  Police  officers,  should,  as  has  been  surmised,  in- 
terfere with  your  operations,  and  it  is  in  our  power  to  aid  you,  it  will  give 
us  pleasure.  "  Yrs.  very  truly, 

"  Edwad.  Reynolds." 

"  United  States  of  America,  Massachusetts  District.  At  the  Circuit 
Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  First  Circuit  begun  and  holden  at 
Boston  within  and  for  the  Massachusetts  District  on  Thursday  the  fif- 
teenth day  of  October  1S18  and  sitting  by  adjournment  on  Tuesday  the 
fifth  day  of  January  A.  D.  1819. — 

"  Before  the  Honorable  Joseph  Storer,  Associate  Judge ;  John  Davis, 
District  Judge ; 

"  Upon  the  applications  of  Drs.  John  C.  Warren,  and  Nathaniel  Niles, 
It  was  ordered  by  the  Court,  that  the  Bodies  of  John  Williams,  John  P. 
Rog,  Francis  Frederick  and  Nilo  Peterson,  who  by  the  sentence  of  this 
Court  are  ordered  to  be  hanged  by  the  neck  till  dead  on  Thursday  the 
twenty  first  day  of  January  current,  after  the  execution  of  said  sentence 
be  delivered  by  the  marchal,  to  said  John  C.  Warren,  for  the  purpose  of 
dissection.  But  is  recommended  by  the  Court  to  said  John  C.  Warren 
to  accommodate  said  Nathaniel  Niles,  with  one  of  said  Bodies. 

"  Attes.—  " 

Whether  the  enactment  of  a  law  similar  to  that  of  Massa- 
chusetts in  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  had  the  desired  effect 
in  abating  the  practice  in  those  places  can  be  judged  from  the 
following  letter : 


BODY-SNATCHING— ANATOMY  LAWS       657 

"  Jan.  1829. 

"  My  Dear  Sir :  The  following  is  the  mode  of  permitting  bodies  to  be 
taken  for  dissection  in  New  York, — Two  pits  are  opened  at  the  public 
ground.  It  is  understood  that  the  anatomists  are  upon  honour  not  to  dis- 
turb bodies  placed  in  No.  i,  but  are  at  liberty  to  take  all  placed  in  No.  2 
The  officer  superintending  the  public  charity  places  a  mark,  agreed  on  be- 
tween himself  and  the  keeper  of  the  ground,  upon  all  boxes  to  be  deposited 
in  No.  2..  Those  which  he  considers  most  entitled  to  respect,  or  most 
likely  to  be  called  for  by  friends,  are  deposited  in  No.  I.  The  person 
entrusted  with  the  removal  of  the  bodies,  gives  the  keeper  notice  during 
the  day  of  the  hour  and  manner  in  which  he  is  to  come  at  night.  In  this 
way  the  keeper  is  prepared  to  examine  the  ground  very  early  in  the  morn- 
ing and  remove  any  accidental  marks  which  might  lead  visitors  to  suspect 
the  occurrence  of  the  previous  evening.  To  lessen  the  chance  of  such 
accidents,  it  is  a  general  rule  to  remove  the  boxes  without  opening  them  at 
the  pit,  and  this  is  decidedly  the  best  plan,  as  it  does  away  with  the  neces- 
sity of  hatchets  and  hammers,  and  can  be  effected  noiselessly. 

"  The  Philadelphia  arrangement  is  vastly  superior ;  The  city  appoints  a 
superintendent  to  each  of  the  public  grounds  at  a  very  small  salary.  It  is 
perfectly  understood  that  his  business  is  to  give  the  anatomists  every  facil- 
ity consistent  with  the  most  entire  secrecy.  He  is  allowed  to  profit  thereby 
as  much  as  maybe: — observing  with  strict  justice  to  supply  each  applicant 
in  his  turn  according  to  the  nature  of  his  claim,  which  is  determined  by 
the  number  in  his  class.  These  superintendents  have  their  own  servants 
and  at  certain  hours  of  the  night  agreed  upon  between  the  city  watch  and 
themselves  they  are  permitted  to  deliver  the  subjects  to  the  anatomical  es- 
tablishments free  from  interruption.  In  case  of  misconduct  or  unfair 
dealing  on  the  part  of  the  superintendents,  the  anatomist  makes  complaint 
to  the  mayor  of  the  city,  who  inquires  into  and  regulates  the  matter.  In 
Philada.  all  the  subjects  buried  in  the  two  public  grounds  from  the  1st 
Nov.  till  the  first  of  April,  can  be  had  for  dissection  if  required. 

'  The  Philadelphia  method  is  decidedly  the  most  advantagious  to  all 
pa.  lies.  It  is  the  interest  of  the  keeper  to  manage  every  thing  with  the 
utmost  caution,  and  therefore  there  is  never  the  slightest  danger  from 
popular  tumult,  as  nothing  can  ever  be  seen  by  papers,  that  would  lend  to 
suspicion,  and  few  persons  in  the  city  have  the  slightest  idea  of  the  manner 
111  which  the  schools  are  supplied  or  even  that  they  are  supplied.  A  very 
strict  watch  is  kept  over  the  grounds,  by  the  persons  employed  by  the 
keeper,  but  it  is  to  prevent  private  adventurers  from  robbing  him — not  to 
prevent  them  from  emptying  the  pits.  I  sincerely  hope  you  will  be  suc- 
cessful in  inducing  your  city  authorities  to  view  this  matter  aright;  cer- 
tainly the  example  of  Philadelphia  is  strongly  in  point,  as  a  popular  dis- 
turbance or  rubbery  of  a  private  burial  ground  is  unknown,  notwithstand- 


658  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

ing  from    12  to  20   subjects  are  weekly  consumed   during  the   dissecting 
season.     All  these  statements  are  of  course  secrets. 

"  Sincerely  yours,  John   D.    Godman." 

Now  John  C.  Warren  was  free  from  personal  prejudice. 
Witness  this  extract  from  his  will : 

"The  final  and  principal  object  of  writing  this  letter  is  this,  which  re- 
gards the  disposition  of  my  mortal  remains  after  the  spirit  has  quitted 
them. 

"  1.     Let  the  body  be  injected  with  arsenic  after  death,  soon. 

*  *  ********* 

"  3.  The  body  afterwards  to  be  removed  to  the  Medical  College ;  exam- 
ined or  dissected  according  to  circumstances.  Any  morbid  parts  to  be 
carefully  preserved ;  and  particular  attention  is  to  be  paid  to  the  heart, 
spleen  and  prostate  gland. 

"  4.  The  bones  to  be  carefully  preserved,  whitened,  articulated,  and 
placed  in  the  lecture  room  of  the  Medical  College,  near  my  bust ;  affording, 
as  I  hope,  a  lesson  useful,  at  the  same  time,  to  morality  and  science. 

"  I  earnestly  request  that  you  and  my  family  will  lay  aside  any  natural 
feeling  of  opposition  to  this  my  last  request ;  considering  that  it  is  for  the 
interest  of  humanity  and  for  mine  and  their  honor."  * 

This  business  of  body-snatching  was  almost  as  odious  to 
physicians  as  it  was  to  the  people,  to  the  enlightened  as  to  the 
ignorant.  However,  thoughtful  men  outside  of  the  profession 
were  recognizing  the  importance  of  dissections,  and  that  fact 
prompted  members  of  the  medical  profession  in  Massachusetts 
to  petition  the  Legislature  in  1829  to  legalize  the  study  of 
anatomy  by  dissections.  A  contrast  of  the  results  of  the 
evils  of  such  a  law  as  then  existed  in  Massachusetts  and  the 
results  to  be  derived  from  the  legal  recognition  of  the  study 
of  anatomy  can  be  gained  from  England  and  France. 

In  England  there  were  laws  against  exhumation, — laws  in- 
tended to  protect  the  sepulchres,  but  no  laws  either  allowing 
the  use  of  bodies  for  dissection  or  laws  prohibiting  the  study 
of  anatomy.     The  result  was  the  development  of  a  class  of 

*  The  skeleton  of  Warren  hangs  in  the  Warren  Museum  at  the  Harvard 
Medical  School. 


BODY-SNATCHING— ANATOMY  LAWS        659 

professional  body-snatchers  who  carried  on  their  trade  with  a 
boldness  almost  incredible.  Every  form  of  crime  up  to  mur- 
der was  perpetrated  by  this  band  of  men.  No  grave  in  Eng- 
land was  safe,  no  earthly  honors  too  exalted  to  deter  their 
approach.  Growing  bolder  and  more  defiant  the  resurrection- 
man  entered  homes  even  before  the  funeral  and  stole  the  dead. 
Driven  at  length  to  the  necessity  of  fulfilling  his  contract,  he 
actually  murdered  his  comrades  that  he  might  bargain  for 
their  bodies.  All  this  ceased  as  a  result  of  the  passage  of  the 
Anatomy  Act  of  1832. 

In  France  the  Faculty  of  Medicine  at  Paris  was  authorized 
to  take  from  the  civil  hospitals,  from  the  prisons,  and  from 
the  alms-houses  the  bodies  necessary  for  teaching  anatomy,  a 
gratuity  of  eight-pence  being  given  to  the  attendants  for  each 
body.  When  the  national  convention  of  schools  of  health  was 
assembled,  one  of  the  statutes  declared  that  the  subjects  neces- 
sary for  the  schools  of  anatomy  should  be  taken  from  the 
hospitals  ( 1825).  In  the  same  period  the  chief  of  the  anatom- 
ical department  of  the  Faculty  of  Paris  would  send  a  carriage 
every  day  to  the  different  hospitals  to  bring  back  the  necessary 
number  of  bodies.  At  times  this  number  reached  two  thou- 
sand a  year  exclusive  of  those  from  L'Hopital  de  la  Pitie. 
Upon  the  opening  of  dissecting  theatres  at  all  the  large  hos- 
pitals the  distribution  of  bodies  became  more  restricted,  each 
hospital  supplying  its  own  anatomical  classes  with  material. 
After  the  bodies  had  1>een  dissected  it  was  the  custom  to  wrap 
the  remnants  in  cloths,  and  take  them  to  the  neighboring  ceme- 
tery. The  result  of  this  system  was  that  grave  robbing  was 
unknown ;  that  the  people  made  no  opposition  to  the  use  of 
bodies  for  dissection,  as  they  felt  assured  that  the  study  was 
necessary  and  that  it  was  pursued  in  a  decent  manner;  and 
the  arrangement  produced  a  class  of  surgeons  recognized  as 
great  teachers  the  world  over. 

In   Massachusetts   the  situation    was   this:   there   had    l>een 


660  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

but  two  laws  passed  (1812  and  1815,  both  quoted  above)  ;  one 
provided  that  paupers,  criminals,  etc.,  must  be  buried;  while 
the  other  made  it  a  crime  to  disturb  graves.  Bodies  for  dis- 
section could  not  be  obtained  in  any  legal  manner  (except  the 
very  few  bodies  granted  by  the  court).  Consequently  the 
Massachusetts  Medical  Society,  as  well  as  many  individual 
surgeons  in  the  State,  endeavored  to  have  a  law  enacted,  legal- 
izing the  study  of  Anatomy.  The  following  circular  letter 
was  sent  to  every  physician  in  the  State : 

"  SIR,  "  Salem,  Sept.  i,  1829. 

'  The  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  having  appointed  us  a  Committee 
'  to  consider  if  any  change  can  be  effected  in  the  laws  of  this  Common- 
wealth, in  relation  to  human  dissection,'  we  have  the  honor  to  solicit  your 
influence  and  interest  to  co-operate  with  us  in  devising  means  to  advance 
the  welfare  of  the  community,  and  of  our  common  profession,  so  deeply 
involved  in  the  prosecution  of  Anatomical  Science. 

"  It  must  be  obvious  to  you,  Sir,  that  the  difficulties  and  dangers,  which 
now  oppose  the  practical  study  of  Anatomy  in  this  Commonwealth,  are 
such  as  operate  almost  to  the  complete  discouragement  of  the  student  and 
practitioner  in  pursuing  this  study ;  and  that  these  difficulties  and  this  dis- 
couragement grow  out  of  the  popular  prejudice,  which  regards  dissection 
with  horror,  and  blinds  the  community  to  a  view  of  the  importance  of 
the  knowledge  which  is  sought  for,  and  the  facility  with  which  this  knowl- 
edge may  be  obtained,  without  any  outrage  upon  the  good  order  or  the 
genuine  good  feelings  of  thr  n«h]ic.  It  is  to  the  removal  of  this  popular 
prejudice,  especially  as  it  exists  in  the  minds  of  the  members  of  our  Legis- 
lature, that  we  wish  to  direct  the  efforts  of  the  influential  members  of  the 
Medical  Society;  and  the  following  are  some  of  the  statements  upon  which 
it  is  intended  to  rely,  in  presenting  a  petition  to  the  Legislature  for  a  modi- 
fication of  the  existing  laws : — 

"  1.  Anatomical  knowledge  is  absolutely  necessary  in  all  branches  of 
our  profession.  No  conscientious  man  will  venture  to  perform  surgical 
operations  without  this  knowledge ;  and  it  is  equally  necessary,  to  enable 
the  physician  to  distinguish  the  seat  of  the  different  internal  diseases,  and 
direct  the  application  of  remedies. 

"  2.  This  knowledge  can  only  be  acquired  by  dissection.  For  it  is  mani- 
festly as  absurd  to  expect  to  learn  the  intricate  structure  of  the  human 
frame  by  means  of  plates  and  models,  as  for  a  mechanic  to  acquire  a 
practical  acquaintance  with  the  structure  and  movements  of  a  watch  with- 
out being  allowed  to  inspect  the  interior  of  the  mechanism  and  to  take  it 
in  pieces. 


BODY-SNATCHING— ANATOMY  LAWS        661 

"3.  So  far  as  the  poor  are  concerned,  it  is  for  their  especial  benefit, 
that  all  physicians  should  be  enabled  to  learn  Anatomy  thoroughly  and 
practise  it  occasionally  during  life.  Riches  may  procure  medical  or  surgi- 
cal skill,  at  whatever  cost,  and  from  any  distance.  And  so  long  as  the  rich 
are  willing  to  pay  for  this  skill  at  its  highest  rate,  a  few  individuals  will 
be  found,  who  will  seek  it  abroad  or  at  home,  at  immense  expense,  or 
personal  sacrifice  and  risk.  But  the  poor  must  be  dependent  for  medical 
and  surgical  relief  upon  those  who  are  nearest  to  them ;  and,  generally, 
not  upon  those  who  have  had  the  most  opportunities  of  acquiring  skill  in 
the   long-continued   practice    of   their  profession. 

"  4.  In  confirmation  of  the  foregoing  argument,  the  Committee  would 
refer  to  the  observation  of  any  competent  member  of  the  profession  to  say, 
if  there  are  not  among  the  paupers,  who  are  supported  at  the  public  charge, 
many  whose  diseases  and  lameness  have  passed  from  a  curable  to  an  incur- 
able condition,  for  the  lack  of  that  surgical  skill  which  could  only  have 
been  derived  from  a  knowledge  of  practical  Anatomy.  It  is  not  meant 
to  be  asserted,  that  all  fractures,  dislocations,  and  surgical  diseases  can  be 
cured,  without  some  cases  occurring,  in  which  such  lameness  will  unavoid- 
ably result,  as  will  occasion  inability  to  labor.  But  so  numerous  are  these 
cases  now  known  to  be,  and  so  great  the  amount  of  loss  which  the  public 
sustains  by  the  loss  of  their  labor,  and  the  expense  of  their  support,  that 
the  interest  which  the  community  has  in  affording  the  means  of  lessening 
the  number  of  these  cases  is  direct  and  obvious. 

"  5.  All  lovers  of  good  order  and  good  morals  must  feel  desirous  to 
prevent  amongst  us  the  growth  of  a  body  of  people,  who  make  it  their 
business  to  violate  the  sepulchres  of  the  dead.  Late  experience  in  Europe 
has  shown,  that  the  bands  of  resurrectionists  are  among  the  most  hardened 
and  desperate  villains  in  society;  and  that  even  murder  has  been  resorted 
to  by  them.  These  desperate  people  are  always  encouraged  by  whatever 
tends  to  create  obstacles  to  the  lawful  prosecution  of  Anatomy,  and  will 
always  find  some  means  of  supplying  bodies,  while  a  high  price  is  paid  for 
them  by  those  engaged  in  anatomical  studies.  The  perfect  safety  of  the 
sepulchres  of  the  dead  may  be  insured,  and  the  feelings  of  the  living  pre- 
served from  the  least  outrage,  by  a  proper  selection  from  among  the  bodies 
of  the  dead. — If  the  bodies  of  persons,  who  are  unclaimed  by  the  friendship 
or  relationship  of  a  living  individual,  are  devoted,  under  proper  regula- 
tions, to  anatomical  purposes,  there  will  be  found  in  all  our  large  towns 
an  adequate  supply  of  the  bodies  of  those,  whose  death  no  one  is  left  to 
regret,  and  to  whose  remains  no  one  is  willing  to  show  respect. 

"  In  fine,  it  is  certain,  that  the  public,  as  a  body,  have  a  greater  degree 
of  interest  in  this  matter  than  even  physicians ;  and  it  is  to  be  hoped,  they 
may  be  made  to  view  this  interest  in  its  true  light. 

"  We  respectfully  request  of  you,  Sir,  that  you  will  give  us  your  assist- 
ance in  promoting  the  object  for  which  the  Committee  was  appointed;  and 


662  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

especially  by  laying  the  subject,  with  such  arguments  as  we  have  used,  and 
others  which  will  occur  to  yourself,  before  the  consideration  of  those 
members  of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  with  whom  you  are  acquainted. 
"  We  also  request  you  would  forward  to  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee, 
any  important  views  which  may  occur  to  you  upon  this  subject,  and  of 
what  appears  to  you,  from  your  personal  knowledge  of  the  course  of 
public  opinion  in  your  vicinity,  the  prospect  of  success  in  the  anticipated 
application  to  the  General  Court. 

"  If  you  should  have  any  thing  to  communicate,  please  to  forward  it 
previous  to  the  ist  of  October. 

"  We  are  your  obedient  servants, 

"A.  L.  PEIRSON, 
"WILLIAM   INGALLS, 
"JOHN   C.  WARREN, 
"GEO.   C.  SHATTUCK, 
"JOHN   BROOKS, 
"JOHN  D.  WELLS, 
"JOHN  WARE." 

To  have  enacted  such  a  law  many  preliminaries  were  neces- 
sary. It  was  essential  that  public  opinion  should  be  changed 
so  as  to  see  it  was  for  the  interest  of  the  community  that 
anatomical  investigation  should  be  pursued;  then  the  laity 
must  be  brought  to  realize  that  pathology  and  methods  of 
correct  practice  are  as  intimately  associated  with  anatomy  as 
is  surgery.  All  this  took  time.  Numerous  articles  advocating 
the  new  law  appeared  in  the  press,  and  J.  C.  Warren  with 
others  gave  public  lectures  at  the  State  House  before  the  legis- 
lative committee.  The  committee  on  Judiciary,  to  whom  the 
order  was  referred,  said : 

"  The  Committee  are  aware  that  the  subject  is  as  delicate  and  difficult 
as  it  is  important,  and  they  do  not  think  it  expedient  to  propose  any  alter- 
ation of  the  laws  at  the  present  time ;  because  in  a  community  like  ours, 
it  is  necessary  that  laws  should  proceed  from  and  be  supported  by  public 
opinion.  They  are  satisfied  from  the  statements  made  to  them  by  some 
of  the  most  eminent  persons  of  the  medical  profession,  that  great  preju- 
dices exist,  and  that  it  is  very  important  that  correct  information  should 
be  spread  abroad  in  the  community.  *  *  *  There  is  no  reason  to  sup- 
pose that  great  discoveries  and  improvements  may  not  yet  be  made ;  but 
further  improvement  is  hopeless  under  a  rigid  enforcement  of  the  present 
statute." 


BODY-SNATCHING— ANATOMY  LAWS        063 

The  determined  and  persistent  efforts  of  the  medical  pro- 
fession resulted  in  the  enactment  of  an  Anatomical  Law  in 
1830,  the  first  of  its  kind.*    It  reads  as  follows : 

"CHAPTER  57.    1830. 

"  An  Act  more  effectual ly  to  protect  the  Sepulchers  of  the  Dead,  and  to 
legalize  the  study  of  Anatomy  in  certain  cases. 

"  Section  I.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives 
in  General  Court  Assembled,  and  by  the  authority  of  the  same,  That,  if 
any  person,  not  being  authorized  by  the  Board  of  Health,  overseers  of 
the  poor,  or  selectmen  in  any  town  in  this  Commonwealth,  or  by  the 
directors  of  the  House  of  Industry,  overseers  of  the  poor,  or  mayor  and 
aldermen  of  the  City  of  Boston  in  said  Commonwealth  shall  knowingly 
or  wilfully  dig  up,  remove,  or  convey  away,  or  aid  and  assist  in  digging 
up,  removing,  or  conveying  away,  any  human  body,  or  the  remains  thereof, 
such  person  or  persons  so  offending,  on  conviction  of  such  offense,  in 
the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  of  this  Commonwealth  shall  be  adjudged 
guilty  of  felony,  and  shall  be  punished  by  solitary  imprisonment  for 
a  term  not  exceeding  ten  days,  and  by  confinement  afterwards  to  hard 
labour  for  a  term  not  exceeding  one  year,  or  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine 
not  exceeding  two  thousand  dollars,  to  enure  to  the  benefit  of  the  Com- 
monwealth and  by  imprisonment  in  the  common  jail  for  a  term  not  ex- 
ceeding two  years,  at  the  discretion  of  the  court,  according  to  the  nature 
and  aggravation  of  the  offence. 

"  Section  2.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That  if  any  person  shall  be  in  any 
way.  either  before  or  after  the  fact,  accessory  to  the  commission,  by  any 
person  or  persons,  of  the  offense  described  in  the  first  section  of  this 
act,  such  person  or  persons  shall  be  adjudged  and  taken  to  be  principals, 
and  shall  be,  on  the  conviction  in  the  court  aforesaid,  subject  to  the  same 
punishment  and  forfeitures  as  are  in  said  first  section  provided. 

"  Section  3.  Be  it  further  en-acted,  That  from  and  after  the  passage 
of  this  act,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  board  of  health,  overseers  of  the 
poor,  and  selectmen  of  any  town  in  the  Commonwealth,  and  for  the 
directors  of  the  House  of  Industry,  overseers  of  the  poor,  and  mayor  and 
aldermen  of  the  city  of  Boston,  in  said  Commonwealth  to  surrender  the 
dead  bodies  of  such  persons,  except  town  paupers,  as  may  be  required  to 
be  buried  at  the  public  expense,  to  any  regular  physician  duly  licensed 
according  to  the  laws  of  this  Commonwealth,  to  be  by  said  physician 
used  for  the  advancement  of  anatomical  science,  preference  being  always 
given  to  the  medical  schools  that  are  now,  or  hereafter  may  be  by  law 
established   in   this   Commonwealth,   during   such    portions   of   the   year   as 

*  Great  Britain  did  not  enact  an  Anatomy  Law  until  1832,  following  the 
celebrated  Burke  and  Hare  murders  at  Edinburgh. 


664  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

such  schools,  or  either  of  them,  may  require  subjects  for  the  instruction 
of  medical  students;  provided,  that  no  such  dead  body  shall  in  any  case 
be  so  surrendered,  if  within  thirty-six  hours  from  the  time  of  its  death, 
any  one  or  more  persons  claiming  to  be  kin,  friend,  or  an  acquaintance 
to  the  deceased,  shall  require  to  have  said  dead  body  inhumed ;  or  if  it 
be  made  to  appear  to  the  selectmen  or  overseers  of  the  poor  of  any 
town  in  this  Commonwealth,  or  to  the  mayor  and  aldermen  or  overseers 
of  the  poor  of  the  city  of  Boston,  that  such  dead  body  is  the  remains 
of  a  stranger  or  traveller,  who  suddenly  died  before  making  known  who  or 
whence  he  was,  but  said  dead  body  shall  be  inhumed,  and  when  so  inhumed, 
any  person  disinterring  the  same  for  purposes  of  dissection,  or  being 
accessories,  as  described  in  the  second  section  of  this  act,  to  such  exhu- 
mation, shall  be  liable  to  the  punishments  and  forfeitures  in  this  act 
respective  provided ;  and  provided  further,  that  every  physician  so  receiv- 
ing such  dead  body,  before  it  be  lawful  to  deliver  him  the  same,  shall, 
in  such  case,  give  to  the  mayor  and  aldermen  of  the  city  of  Boston,  or  the 
selectmen  of  any  town  of  this  Commonwealth,  as  each  case  may  require, 
good  and  sufficient  bond  or  bonds,  that  each  body  by  him  so  received 
shall  be  used  only  for  the  promotion  of  anatomical  science,  that  it  shall 
be  used  for  such  purposes  only  m  this  Commonwealth,  and  so  as  in  no 
event  to  outrage  public  feeling,  and  that,  after  having  been  so  used,  the 
remains  thereof  shall  be  decently  inhumed. 

"  Section  4.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That,  from  and  after  the  passage  of 
this  act,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  any  physician,  duly  licensed  according  to 
the  law  of  this  Commonwealth,  or  any  medical  student,  under  the  author- 
ity of  any  such  physician,  to  have  in  his  possession,  to  use  and  employ, 
human  dead  bodies,  or  the  parts  thereof,  for  purposes  of  anatomical  in- 
quiry' or  instruction. 

"  Section  5.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That  nothing  in  this  act  shall  be  so 
construed  or  to  give  to  the  board  of  health,  overseers  of  the  poor,  select- 
men, of  any  town  in  this  Commonwealth,  or  to  the  directors  of  the 
House  of  Industry,  overseers  of  the  poor,  or  mayor  and  aldermen  of  the 
city  of  Boston,  in  said  Commonwealth,  any  power  to  license  the  digging 
up  of  any  human  body,  or  the  remains  thereof,  other  than  now  possessed 
by  them  before  the  passing  of  this  act,  or  is  given  them  by  the  third 
section  of  this  act. 

"  Section  6.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  act  passed  March  2nd, 
1815,  entitled,  'An  Act  to  protect  the  Sepulchers  of  the  Dead,'  and  also 
all  other  acts  or  parts  of  acts,  contravening  the  provisions  of  this  act, 
be,  and  the  same  hereby  are  repealed.  (Feb.  28,  1831.)  Former  laws 
repealed,  1814,  ch.   175." 

So  a  beginning  was  made  to  the  placing  of  anatomical  sci- 
ence on  the  same  ground  with  other  useful  sciences,  and  the 


BODY-SNATCHING— ANATOMY  LAWS        665 

influence  for  the  good  of  the  profession  was  soon  manifest 
in  other  states  and  other  countries.  It  was  to  be  expected, 
however,  that  in  a  community  still  unprepared,  such  a  law 
would  be  found  to  have  defects.  These  defects  we  find,  but 
it  is  more  important  to  note  the  disposition  upon  the  part  of 
officials  to  evade  or  defeat  the  intent  of  the  law  and  its  execu- 
tion. Trouble  arose  in  this  way.  The  law  required  the  con- 
current action  of  three  boards,  ( i )  the  Mayor  and  Aldermen, 
(2)  the  Directors  of  the  House  of  Industry,  and  (3)  the 
Overseers  of  the  Poor.  To  overcome  the  impracticability  of 
this  arrangement  it  was  agreed  that  the  Mayor  and  Aldermen 
should  act  as  executive  officers  of  the  Act.  With  these  offi- 
cials constantly  changing,  the  execution  of  the  law  gradually 
became  very  lax.  Bodies  when  obtained  through  an  insist- 
ence upon  the  execution  of  the  law,  were  frequently  found  to 
have  undergone  previous  mutilations.  Another  defect  was 
the  provision  that  any  person  who  pleased  to  call  himself  a 
friend  of  the  deceased  was  enabled  to  prevent  the  execution 
of  the  law.  Moreover,  there  was  the  provision  that  the  execu- 
tion of  the  law  was  optional  with  the  officials  to  whom  it  was 
entrusted.  It  took  a  great  number  of  years  to  change  that 
word  "may"  to  "shall,"  but  eventually  it  was  accomplished  as 
presently  we  shall  see. 

In  this  country  the  various  changes  in  the  laws  relating  to 
the  supply  of  bodies  for  anatomical  study  make  a  long  story. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  follow  them  in  detail.  Local  conditions 
did  much  in  establishing  the  custom  pursued  by  the  several 
medical  schools  throughout  the  country.  To  assert  that  grave 
robbing  is  unknown  to-day  in  this  country  would  probably  be 
a  falsehood.  A  good  advance  however  has  been  made.  Such 
contrasting  conditions  as  those  of  Kansas,  the  District  of 
Columbia,  and  Maine*  with  those  of  Pennsylvania,  New  York 

*  The  Professor  of  Anatomy  at   Bowdoin   writes    (1897):     "Here  our 
supply   from  other   States  is  insufficient  and   precarious ;    and   we  get  so 


666  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

and  Massachusetts,  indicate  the  need  of  uniform  legislation 
before  the  grave  robber  goes  the  way  of  Macheath  and  his  like. 
For  such  uniform  laws  the  medical  profession  must  work. 

Dissection  has  never  been  thought  a  crime;  why  should 
medical  schools  have  taught  it  as  though  it  were  a  crime? 
Dissection  is  practiced  in  the  interest  of  humanity.  The  benefit 
is  for  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men.  Here  is  a  case  in 
point,  which  I  find  on  going  through  the  mass  of  testi- 
mony (?)  in  that  sensational  attempt  made  a  few  years  ago 
to  arouse  the  popular  mind  against  dissection,  and  particu- 
larly against  the  Harvard  Medical  School.  The  new  building 
on  Boylston  Street  was  to  be  inspected.  Many  of  the  Faculty 
held  the  view  suggested  above,  and  thought  to  prevent  an 
inspection  of  the  dissecting  room.  The  speaker  of  the  occa- 
sion was  the  anatomist,  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes.  With  a 
frankness  and  honesty  which  disarmed  opposition  he  said : 
"among  the  various  apartments  destined  to  special  uses,  one 
will  be  sure  to  rivet  your  attention ;  namely,  the  anatomical 
laboratory,  known  in  plainer  speech  as  the  dissecting-room." 
At  that  meeting  Holmes  set  a  new  estimate  on  the  study  of 
anatomy,  one  which  Harvard  has  since  maintained. 

The  President  wrote  to  the  Medical  Faculty  (1883)  that  the 
College  would  not  pay  for  any  subjects  for  dissection  not  pro- 
cured according  to  law.  The  Legislature  revised  its  statutes 
soon  after,  and  an  Anatomical  Law  was  passed  which  formed 
the  basis  of  that  under  which  we  are  now  practicing  dissec- 
tion.   The  law  runs  as  follows : 

"  Chapter  77." 
"revised  laws  of  massachusetts.  1002. 
"  Sect.  1.  Upon  the  written  application  of  the  dean  or  other  officer  of 
any  medical  school  established  by  law  in  the  commonwealth,  the  over- 
few  subjects  from  domestic  sources  that  the  law  must  soon  be  made 
serviceable  to  science,  or  practical  anatomy  must  cease  in  Maine."  Pro- 
fessor Dwight,  "  Forum,"   December,   1897,  page  501. 


BODY-SNATCHING— ANATOMY  LAWS        6<i7 

seer  of  the  poor  of  a  city  or  town,  the  trustees  for  children,  the  pauper 
institution  trustees,  the  insane  hospital  trustees,  and  the  penal  institution 
commissioner  of  the  City  of  Boston,  the  trustees  and  superintendent  of 
the  state  hospital,  state  farm,  or  other  public  institution  supported  in 
whole  or  in  part  at  the  public  expense,  except  the  Soldiers'  home  in 
Chelsea,  shall  give  such  dean  or  other  officer  permission  to  take  within 
three  days  after  death,  the  bodies  of  such  persons  who  die  in  such 
town,  city,  city  institution,  state  hospital,  state  farm  or  public  institution 
as  are  required  to  be  buried  at  public  expense,  to  be  used  within  the 
commonwealth  for  the  advancement  of  anatomical  science ;  but  such  per- 
mission shall  not  be  given  to  take  the  body  of  any  soldier  or  sailor, 
known  to  be  such,  who  served  in  the  war  of  the  rebellion  or  in  the  war 
between  the  United  States  and  Spain.  In  giving  such  permission,  regard 
shall  be  had  to  preserving  as  far  as  practicable  a  fair  proportion  between 
the  number  of  students  in  attendance  at  such  institutions  and  the  number 
of  bodies  delivered  to  them  respectively. 

"  .Sect.  2.  Such  dean  or  other  officer  before  receiving  any  such  dead 
body  shall  give  to  the  board  or  officer  surrendering  the  same  to  him  a 
sufficient  bond  with  condition  that  such  body  shall  be  used  only  for  the 
promotion  of  anatomical  science  within  the  commonwealth,  and  in  such 
manner  as  in  no  event  to  outrage  the  public  feeling,  that,  after  having 
been  so  used,  the  remains  shall  be  decently  buried,  that  it  shall  not  be 
so  used  for  fourteen  days  after  death,  and  that  it  shall,  during  said  four- 
teen days,  be  kept  in  a  condition  and  place  to  be  viewed  by  any  person, 
at  all  reasonable  times,  for  the  purpose  of  identification. 

"  Sect.  3.  If  the  deceased  person,  during  his  last  sickness,  of  his  own 
accord  request  to  be  buried  or  request  that  his  body  be  delivered  up  to 
his  friends,  or  if,  within  fourteen  days  after  the  death  of  such  deceased 
person,  any  person  claiming  to  be  and  satisfying  the  authorities  that  he 
is  a  friend  or  is  of  kindred  to  the  deceased  asks  to  have  the  body  buried 
or  surrendered  to  himself,  or  if  such  deceased  person  was  a  stranger  or 
traveller  who  suddenly  died  the  body  shall  not  be  given  up  as  aforesaid ; 
but,  shall,  in  conformity  with  such  request,  be  either  buried  or  delivered 
up  to  such  friend  or  kindred. 

"  Sect.  4.  Upon  conviction  of  murder  in  the  first  degree,  the  court 
may  order  the  body  of  the  convict  after  execution  to  be  dissected.  The 
sheriff  shall  in  such  case  deliver  it  to  a  professor  of  anatomy  or  surgery 
in  a  medical  school  established  by  law  in  the  commonwealth,  if  so  re- 
quested ;  otherwise,  he  shall,  unless  the  convict's  friends  desire  it  for  inter- 
ment, deliver  it  to  any  surgeon  attending  to  receive  it  who  will  undertake 
to  dissect  it."  * 

*  The  various  legislative  acts  regarding  dissection  in  the  State  of  Mas- 
sachusetts are  as  fellows : 


668  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Since  Holmes's  retirement  in  1882,  the  standard  set  in  his 
address  has  been  maintained  by  his  successor  and  former 
assistant,  Professor  Thomas  Dwight,  who  has  written : 

"How  are  these  things  to  be  conducted  in  the  ideal  state?  First  of 
all,  the  rights  of  the  poor  have  to  be  respected.  There  must  be  no  danger 
that  the  body  of  husband,  wife,  child,  or  near  relation  may  be  taken, 
through  any  lack  of  means  on  the  part  of  the  survivor.  On  the  death 
of  a  pauper  due  notice  should  be  given  to  those  near  of  kin ;  these 
failing  to  claim,  the  demands  of  medical  education  come  next.  Still,  the 
principle  is  to  be  laid  down  that  such  a  body  is,  as  it  were,  only  loaned 
to  science,  and  that  it  is  to  be  treated  with  decency  throughout  the  opera- 
tion of  dissection.  Any  religious  emblems  or  trinkets  are  to  be  removed 
and  placed  in  the  coffin,  which,  later,  will  receive  the  remains.  The 
examination  being  finished,  the  body  is  to  be  decently  buried  in  a  ceme- 
tery; if  possible,  in  one  of  the  creed  of  the  deceased.  Probably  the 
nearest  approach  in  America  to  this  treatment  of  the  remains  prevails 
at  Harvard.  I  like  to  boast  that,  for  many  years,  not  a  single  body 
has  been  received  by  the  anatomical  department,  for  which  I  am  not 
ready  to  give  an  account.  By  such  a  course,  all  reasonable  opposition 
is  obviated.  There  is  no  wrong  to  the  living,  no  insult  to  the  dead,  and 
the  needs  of  science  are  met." 


Sect.  i.  Sect.  3. 

1830 57  §  3            1830 57             §  3 

1834 187  §3            1834 187             §3 

R.  S 22  §10            R.  S 22             §11 

1845 242  §1     1845 242      §2 

1855 323  §*     G-  S 27     §4 

G.  S 27  §1     P.  S 81     §4 

1879 291  §9     1891 185     §2 

P.S 81  §1     1898 479     §3 

1891 185  §  * 

406 

1898 479  §  ! 

1900 333 

Sect.  2.  Sect.  4. 

1830 57  §3     1784 9     §4 

1834 187  §3     1804 123'    §1 

R.  S 22  §12     R.  S 125      §2 

G.S 27  §2     G.S 160     §8 

P.S 81  §2     P.S 202     §8 

1898 479  §  2 


MEDICAL  LAWS,  MEDICAL  SOCIETIES, 
MEDICAL  LIBRARIES. 


™*m  :j.ia&w*BB&& 


!SB».*I»«W 


THE  BOSTON  MEDICAL  LIBRARY. 


From  Medical  Library  and  Historical  Journal. 


LAWS,  SOCIETIES,  LIBRARIES  671 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

MEDICAL    LAWS,    MEDICAL   SOCIETIES, 
MEDICAL    LIBRARIES. 

The  relation  between  medical  societies,  medical  libraries 
and  medical  schools  has  been  recognized  in  this  country 
from  the  earliest  times.  As  factors  in  medical  education,  both 
the  society  and  the  library  are  well  recognized  to-day.  Per- 
haps no  medical  school  has  profited  more  from  these  two  insti- 
tutions— societies  and  libraries — than  has  the  Harvard  School. 
Situated  in  an  ancient  colony,  established  at  the  beginning  of 
our  political  independence,  surrounded  though  it  was  by 
every  species  of  medical  counterfeit — Thomsonian,  Perkinean, 
Hahnemannian,  and  the  rest,  the  Harvard  Medical  School 
became  inseparably  linked  with  the  medical  laws,  societies, 
and  educational  progress  of  New  England.  That  is  an  inter- 
esting subject  for  study.  Let  us  then  pass  in  review  the 
medical  laws,  societies  and  libraries  which  have  been  factors 
in  the  growth  of  the  School.  As  early  as  May  3rd,  1649,  tne 
General  Court  at  Boston  decreed  the  following  *  : 

"Forasmuch  as  the  lawe  of  God  (Exod;2o;i3)  allows  no  man  to  touch 
the  life  or  limine  of  any  pson  except  in  a  judicyall  way,  bee,  it  hereby 
ordered  and  decreed,  that  no  pson  or  psons  whatsoever  that  are  imployed 
about  the  bodyes  of  men,  woemen,  and  children  for  preservation  of  life 
or  health,  as  phisitians,  chirurgians,  midwives,  or  others,  shall  presume 
to  exercise  or  putt  forth  any  act  contrary  to  the  knowne  rules  of  arte, 
nor  exercise  any  force,  violence,  or  cruelty  upon  or  towards  the  bodies 
of  any,  whether  young  or  old, — no,  not  in  the  most  difficult  and  des- 
perate cases — without  the  advice  and  consent   of  such   as  are  skilfull   in 

*  Records  of  the  Governors  and  Company  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  in 
New  England,  1654;    III,  153. 


672  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

the  same  arte,  if  such  may  be  had,  or  at  least  of  the  wisest  and  gravest 
then  present,  and  consent  of  the  patient  or  patients  (if  they  be  mentis 
compotis),  much  lesse  contrary  to  such  advice  and  consent,  upon  such 
punishment  as  the  nature  of  the  fact  may  deserve;  wch  law  is  not  in- 
tended to  discourage  any  from  a  lawfull  use  of  their  skill ;  but  rather 
to  encourage  and  direct  them  in  the  right  use  thereof,  and  to  inhibit 
and  restrayne  the  presumptions  arrogance  of  such  as  through  prsefidience 
of  their  owne  skill,  or  any  other  sinister  respects,  dare  be  bould  to  attempt 
to  exercise  any  violence  upon  or  towards  the  bodies  of  young  or  old, 
to  the  prejudice  or  hazard  of  the  life  or  limine  of  men,  women,  or 
children." 

Even  before  the  passage  of  that  law  the  Legislature  of  Vir- 
ginia had  passed  an  act  in  reference  to  the  excessive  charges  of 
physicians  and  surgeons.  It  is  dated  1639,  and  is  the  earliest 
legislation  in  the  colonies  relative  to  the  practice  of  medicine. 
This  Virginia  act  set  forth  that  the  demands  of  a  physician 
or  chirurgeon  "for  the  most  part  exceed  the  purchase  of  the 
patient."*  A  few  years  later,  1662  and  1691,  the  Virginia 
Legislature  passed  an  Act  partly  revising  the  previous  one; 
making  a  distinction  between  the  charges  of  those  who  had 
studied  physic  in  any  university  and  had  graduated  therefrom, 
and  those  who  had  obtained  their  knowledge  by  the  appren- 
ticeship method;  for  many  of  the  latter,  says  the  reenacted 
Act  in  1736,  "often  prove  very  unskilful  in  the  art  of  a  phy- 
sician."! 

Except  the  incorporation  of  the  Massachusetts  law  into  the 
Duke  of  York's  law  (1665)  f°r  the  government  of  the  New 
York  province,  no  further  legislation  relating  to  the  practice 
of  medicine  was  enacted  in  the  colonies  until  about  1753. 

Green  f  gives  the  following  petition  presented   (1653): 

"  To  the  Honored  Court  : 
"  Whereas  there  be  many  Chirurgions  that  come  over  in  the  ships  into 

*  Hening's  Statutes  at  Large,  I,  316,  317. 
§  Hening's  Statutes  at  Large,  IV,  509,  510. 

t "  History  of  Medicine  in  Massachusetts,"  Samuel  A.  Green,  Harvard, 
M.  D.,  1854- 


LAWS,  SOCIETIES,  LIBRARIES  673 

this  Bay,  &  here  practise  both  physick  and  chirurgery  to  the  hazarding 
of  the  lives  &  limbes  of  some,  &  the  detriment  of  many,  being  unskilled 
in  those  arts,  may  it  please  this  Honored  Court  to  take  into  Consideration 
whether  such  ought  not  to  be  restrained,  &  that  first  they  may  be  exer- 
cised by  the  skilfull  &  authorised  Phisitians  &  Chirurgions  in  this  towne, 
&  then  being  found  skilfull,  &  approved  by  them  may  by  some  Magistrates 
be  licensed  to  practise  the  time  they  are  resident  here,  but  if  any  one 
shall  presume  on  shore  to  practise  without  liberty  granted,  that  some  fine 
may  be  imposed  upon  him  for  every  such  default  according  to  your  dis- 
cretion." 

This  early  Massachusetts  law  is  worth  remembering  be- 
cause, in  all  attempts  during  the  latter  part  of  the  nineteenth 
century  to  enact  laws  for  the  regulation  of  the  practice  of 
medicine,  one  of  the  strong  arguments  offered  by  the  opposi- 
tion was  that  the  attitude  of  the  state  had  always  been  one  of 
non-interference;  and  that  argument  counted  for  much  in 
Massachusetts.  No  such  let-alone  custom  existed,  as  the  above 
quoted  act  proves.  What  actually  does  exist,  however,  is  the 
absence  of  any  legal  definition  of  the  word  "physician." 
Massachusetts  has  been  unwisely  tolerant  on  that  point,  and 
her  attitude  has  brought  upon  her  much  just  reproach.  An- 
other instance  will  emphasize  the  question  of  old  custom :  In 
the  charter,  granted  to  the  newly  formed  Massachusetts  Med- 
ical Society  (1781)  are  the  words: 

"And  whereas  it  is  clearly  of  importance,  that  a  just  discrimination 
should  be  made  between  such  as  are  duly  educated  and  properly  qualified  for 
the  duties  of  their  profession,  and  those  who  may  ignorantly  and  wickedly 
administer  medicine,  whereby  the  health  and  lives  of  many  valuable  indi- 
viduals may  be  endangered,  or  perhaps  lost  to  the  community; 

"Be  it  therefore  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  That  the  president 
and  fellows  of  said  society,  or  other  such  of  their  officers  or  fellows  as 
they  shall  appoint,  shall  have  full  power  and  authority  to  examine  all 
candidates  for  the  practice  of  physic  and  surgery,  who  shall  offer  them- 
selves for  examination,  respecting  their  skill  in  their  profession." 

Before  following  further  this  Act  of  1781,  let  us  see  what 
the  other  Colonies  or  States  were  doing  to  improve  the  stand- 


674  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

ard  of  medical  practitioners.  Toner*  gives  the  New  York  Act 
of  June  10,  1760,  as  one  of  the  first  of  its  kind.  This  Act 
contains  the  preamble : 

"  Whereas  many  ignorant  and  unskilful  persons  in  physick  and  surgery, 
in  order  to  gain  a  subsistence,  do  take  upon  themselves  to  administer 
physick  and  practise  surgery  in  the  city  of  New  York,  to  the  endanger- 
ing of  the  lives  and  limbs  of  their  patients,  and  many  poor  and  ignorant 
persons  inhabiting  the  said  city,  who  have  been  persuaded  to  become 
their  patients,  have  been  great  sufferers  thereby ;  for  preventing  such 
abuses  for  the  future  " — etc. 

This  act  imposed  a  penalty  of  five  pounds  and  costs  upon 
any  person  practicing  without  having  previously  passed  an 
examination  in  physic  and  surgery  before  a  council  of  at  least 
three  examiners,  i.  e.,  one  of  his  Majesty's  Council,  the  Judge 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  the  Attorney-General,  or  the  Mayor. 

In  1772  New  Jersey,  upon  the  request  of  its  Medical  So- 
ciety, passed  a  similar  act,  making  it  applicable  to  the  whole 
colony,  while  the  New  York  act  applied  only  to  the  city  of 
New  York. 

In  1773  Virginia  and  Connecticut  passed  laws,  the  former 
requiring  all  practitioners  to  take  out  a  license,  the  latter  at- 
tempting the  suppression  of  mountebanks.  I  do  not  refer 
here  to  laws  relating  to  quarantine  and  hospitals. 

On  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution  there  was,  according  to 
Toner  f ,  a  total  of  four  hundred  physicians  in  the  colonies — 
physicians  who  had  received  medical  degrees;  while  the  num- 
ber of  practitioners  was  over  thirty-five  hundred.  "The  ex- 
perience gained  by  the  medical  men  who  served  in  the  army 
elevated  their  views,  gave  them  confidence  in  the  exercise  of 
their  professional  duties,  endeared  them  to  the  public,  and 
made  them  almost  oracles  in  the  communities  in  which  they 

*  "  Contributions  to  the  Annals  of  Medical  Progress  and  Medical  Edu- 
cation in  the  United  States  before  and  during  the  War  of  Independence," 
Joseph  M.  Toner,  1874. 

t  Toner,   loc.   cit..   106;    107. 


LAWS,  SOCIETIES.  LIBRARIES  675 

resided.  This  spirit  of  gratitude  also  created  friends  for  the 
profession  in  the  various  legislatures,  led  to  the  enactment  of 
laws  which  were  more  just  and  protecting  in  their  character, 
and  popularized  the  more  recent  and  thorough  modes  for  the 
scientific  study  of  medicine." 

This  popular  gratitude  was  illustrated  in  the  New  Jersey 
law  of  1783  (the  first  of  the  States  to  pass  a  law  regulating 
the  practice  of  medicine)  ;  the  New  York  laws  of  1792  and 
1797,  and  the  Maryland  law  of  1798.  In  the  following  fifty 
years  every  State  in  the  Union  excepting  Pennsylvania,  North 
Carolina  and  Virginia  passed  laws  aimed  mostly  against 
quackery.  Such  laws  were  generally  futile.  Says  Fitz§  :  "At 
the  close  of  the  first  half  of  the  present  century  (19th)  there 
were  practically  no  efficient  laws  controlling  the  practice  of 
medicine  by  the  licensing  of  physicians  in  this  country,  *  * 
*  existing  laws  had  either  been  repealed  or  were  not  en- 
forced ;  and  the  regularly  educated  physicians  had  ceased  in 
their  efforts  to  suppress  quackery  by  attempting  any  legis- 
lative prohibitory  enactments." 

The  first  State  law  in  Massachusetts  was  that  of  1818;  it 
provided  that  no  person  could  recover  his  fees  unless  he  had 
a  medical  degree  or  was  licensed  by  the  Massachusetts  Med- 
ical Society.  In  18 19  this  was  supplemented  by  "An  Act  in 
addition  to  an  Act  entitled  'An  Act  regulating  the  Practice  of 
Physick  and  Surgery'."  This  second  Act  imposed  the  neces- 
sity of  becoming  a  licentiate  of  the  Medical  Society,  or  a 
graduate  of  the  Harvard  Medical  School,  before  a  person 
could  be  entitled  to  the  benefits  of  the  provisions  of  the  Act 
of  18 18.  Both  of  these  laws  were  defective  in  that  neither 
provided  a  punishment  for  failure  to  procure  a  license  to 
practice,  and  there  was  made  no  provision  to  prevent  the  irreg- 

§  R.  H.  Fitz ;  Annual  Discourse  before  Massachusetts  Medical  Society, 
1894;  "The  Legislative  Control  of  Medical  Practice;"  also  In--  "Presi- 
dent's  Address,"   Transactions    Association    American    Physicians,    [894. 


676  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

ular  practitioner  from  collecting  in  advance  the  fee  he  could 
not  legally  collect  later. 

In  the  revised  statutes  of  1836  the  provisions  mentioned 
above  were  omitted,  and  the  only  advantages  left  to  the  legal- 
ized practitioner  were  the  privilege  of  dissection,  and  exemp- 
tion from  military  and  jury  duty.  An  attempt  to  force  by 
law  all  practitioners  into  the  society  failed,  and  the  misplaced 
sympathy  for  quacks  aroused  by  the  law  made  the  opportune 
advent  of  the  notorious  Thomson  fatal  to  all  attempts  to  regu- 
late the  practice  of  medicine. 

Samuel  Thomson  was  a  shrewd  and  illiterate  New  Hamp- 
shire farmer.  He  seems  to  have  discerned  that  the  occasional 
murmurs  of  dissatisfaction  which  many  regular  physicians 
were  uttering  against  the  heroic  treatment  then  in  vogue  would 
sooner  or  later  mean  medical  rebellion.  In  place  of  bleeding, 
mercurials  and  minerals,  he  advocated  lobelia,  marked  No.  1 ; 
red  pepper,  marked  No.  2 ;  rosemary  myrtle,  sumac,  bayberry, 
etc.,  etc.,  marked  No.  3.  In  1822  he  published  the  celebrated 
"Narrative."  His  trial  (1809)  for  the  murder  of  one  of  his 
patients,  resulted  only  in  lawsuits  against  his  accusers.  These 
suits,  together  with  the  judicial  controversies  over  his  patent 
rights,  made  him  conspicuous.  The  simplicity  of  his  theories 
of  disease  and  of  treatment  won  for  him  popular  support. 
"Friendly  Botanic  Societies"  and  medical  schools  were  estab- 
lished in  support  of  his  doctrine.  His  book  and  medicines  had 
a  great  sale  at  twenty  dollars  for  "family  rights."  The  "popu- 
lar wave"  spread  into  many  parts  of  the  country,  and  his 
followers  succeeded  in  obtaining  legislation  favorable  to  their 
ambitions. 

Thomson  died  in  1843,  at  a  time  when  his  doctrine  had  pre- 
pared the  way  for  the  growth  of  another  species  of  reaction 
from  the  heroic  treatment.  The  new  leader  was  Samuel 
Hahnemann,  founder  of  homeopathy.  Homeopathy  appealed 
to  a  fairly  intelligent  class  of  the  community  whose  social  and 


LAWS,  SOCIETIES,  LIBRARIES  677 

political  influence  was  considerable.  Many  of  its  adherents 
were  educated,  honest  practitioners.  One  need  not  rehearse 
that  long  controversy  (1846-1877).  So  far  as  legislation  was 
concerned  the  result  was  the  striking  off  from  the  Statutes  of 
Massachusetts  (1859)  of  all  laws  relating  to  the  practice  of 
medicine,  and  the  effect  of  this  upon  the  Massachusetts  Med- 
ical Society  will  be  described  later.  But  observe,  that  while 
all  the  other .  States  of  the  Union  went  on  making  laws  to 
regulate  the  practice  of  medicine,  Massachusetts  and  New 
Hampshire  alone  remained  havens  for  all  medical  charlatans 
and  adventurers.  Recent  legislation  illustrates  the  sorry  fact 
that  no  attempt  at  regulating  practice  was  successful  until 
regular  physicians  agreed  to  unite  with  homeopathists  and 
"eclectics"  against  the  lowest  forms  of  quackery.  In  Massa- 
chusetts the  medical  practice  bills  of  1877,  1878,  1880,  1885, 
1889  and  1891  were  each  in  turn  defeated,  principally  by  the 
argument  that  the  proposed  laws  were  intolerant  and  exclu- 
sive, for  the  benefit  of  the  few,  and  were  an  interference  with 
the  rights  of  the  many. 

In  1894  Governor  Greenhalge,  in  his  annual  message  to  the 
Legislature  said.  "I  ask  you  also  to  consider  the  expediency 
of  requiring  that  practitioners  of  medicine  be  registered. 
*  *  *  In  every  State  of  the  Union  except  five,  such  a  system 
of  registration  has  been  established,  and  it  cannot  fail  to<  pro- 
tect the  public,  and  at  the  same  time  help  to  maintain  a  high 
standing  among  medical  practitioners."  A  bill  was  intro- 
duced in  conformity  with  the  Governor's  request.  Violent 
and  determined  opposition  was  encountered  at  every  stage. 
The  bill  finally  was  enacted  June  7,  1894,  and  is  known  as 
Chapter  458  of  the  Acts  and  Resolves  of  1894. 

The  passage  of  this  registration  law  in  1894  carries  us  back 
by  its  provisions  to  the  Act  of  1781,  incorporating  the  Massa- 
chusetts Medical  Society.  Both  recognize  the  distinction  be- 
tween   registered    and    unregistered    physicians,    a    distinction 


678  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

based  upon  an  educational  qualification  for  the  practitioner. 
Let  us  then  go  back  to  the  birth  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical 
Society  and  trace  its  influence  so  far  as  that  bears  upon  the 
story  we  are  telling. 

In  the  Act  incorporating  the  Massachusetts  Medical  So- 
ciety, dated  November  ist,  1781,  it  was  stipulated,  "That  the 
President  and  Fellows  of  said  society,  or  such  other  of  their 
officers  or  fellows  as  they  shall  appoint,  shall  have  full  power 
and  authority  to  examine  all  candidates  for  the  practice  of 
physic  and  surgery  (who  shall  offer  themselves  for  examina- 
tion) respecting  their  skill  in  their  profession;  and  if,  upon 
such  examination,  the  said  candidates  shall  be  found  skilled 
in  their  profession,  and  fitted  for  the  practice  of  it,  they  shall 
receive  the  approbation  of  the  society,  in  letters  testimonial  of 
such  examination,  under  the  seal*  of  the  said  society,  signed 
by  the  president,  or  such  other  person  or  persons  as  shall  be 
appointed  for  that  purpose."  It  was  further  provided  that  if 
the  officers  of  the  Society  obstinately  refused  to  examine  any 
candidate,  such  officers  should  be  subject  to  a  fine  of  one  hun- 
dred pounds,  and  the  sum  was  to  go  to  the  candidate. 

The  Massachusetts  Society  was  the  tenth  medical  society 
formed  in  this  country.  There  were :  ( 1 )  A  medical  so- 
ciety in  Boston  founded  in  1735  and  traced  up  to  1 741.  Will- 
iam Douglas  seems  to  have  been  the  principal  in  this  society 
and  a  leading  contributor  to  its  publications.  "The  Boston 
Weekly  News-Letter"  for  November  13th,  1741,  tells  of  an 
operation  for  stone  in  the  bladder:  "A  Medical  Society  in 
Boston,  New  England,  with  no  quackish  view  as  is  the  man- 

*  The  diploma  given  by  this  society  was  a  unique  affair.  It  measured 
twenty-nine  inches  in  length,  by  twenty-six  in  breadth,  was  of  curious 
workmanship  and  design,  having  prominently  displayed  at  the  top  a  figure 
of  Aesculapius,  together  with  the  coat  of  arms  of  the  State;  and  at  the 
bottom  the  seal  of  the  Society,  in  red  wax,  placed  upon  a  circular  piece 
of  tin   which   had  been   securely  fitted  to  the  parchment. 


LAWS.  SOCIETIES,  LIBRARIES  679 

ner  of  some;  but  for  the  Comfort  and  Benefit  of  the  unhappy 
and  miserable  sufferers  by  the  excruciating  Pain,  occasioned 
by  a  stone  in  the  Bladder,  do  publish  the  following  Case." 
Nothing  further  is  known  of  that  old  Boston  Medical  Society. 

(2)  "A  Society  of  Gentlemen  in  New  York,  founded  about 
1749,  for  the  weekly  discussion  of  Medical  Subjects."  The 
only  record  of  this  society  known  to  exist  is  a  manuscript  in 
the  library  of  the  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine  with  the 
title,  "An  Essay  on  the  nature  of  ye  malignant  Pleurisy  that 
proved  so  remarkably  fatal  to  the  Inhabitants  of  Huntington, 
Long  Island;  and  some  other  places  on  Long  Island,  in  the 
winter  of  the  year  1749,  Drawn  up  at  the  request  of  a  Weekly 
Society  of  Gentlemen  in  New  York,  and  addressed  to  them 
at  one  of  their  meetings,  by  Dr.  Jno.  Bard,  New  York,  1749." 

(3)  The  Philadelphia  Medical  Society  founded  in  1765, 
which  in  1768  became  a  part  of  the  American  Society  for  the 
Promotion  of  Useful  Knowledge,  later  known  as  the  Amer- 
ican Philosophical  Society.  (4)  The  Medical  Society  of 
New  Jersey  founded  July  23,  1766.  This  is  the  oldest  of  the 
existing  medical  societies  in  this  country.  In  1790  an  off- 
shoot of  this  society  styled  itself  "The  Medical  Society  of  the 
Eastern  District  of  New  Jersey,"  and  for  awhile  rivaled  suc- 
cessfully the  parent  society:  but  it  died  in  1807.  (5)  A 
Medical  Society  founded  in  New  York  November  14,  1794. 
and  called  the  "Medical  Society  of  the  State  of  New  York" 
is  often  confounded  with  the  society  of  1749  mentioned  above; 
but  the  manuscript  records  of  its  meetings,  now  in  the  Library 
of  the  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine,  point  to  the  existence 
of  two  distinct  societies.  In  1806  this  society  of  1794  l)ecame 
the  "Medical  Society  of  the  County  of  New  York."  (6) 
The  Boston  Medical  Society  was  founded  May  14,  1780,  and 
like  the  New  Jersey  Medical  Society  was  chiefly  concerned 
with  the  regulation  of  fees.  The  founders  of  this  society  were 
Danforth,  Rand.  Jr.,   Kast  and  John   Warren.      This  society 


680  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

is  often  confounded  with  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society, 
but  the  latter  never  undertook  to  regulate  the  fees  of  practi- 
tioners. Besides  fixing  the  fee  table,  the  Boston  Medical  So- 
ciety opposed  the  request  of  President  Willard  (April  19, 
1784)  that  the  Overseers  of  the  Poor  allow  the  teachers  and 
students  of  the  medical  school  to  attend  the  hospital  of  the 
Almshouse,  where  Warren  had  been  attending  physician  and 
surgeon  for  two  years.  The  details  of  these  "Extraordinary 
Resolutions  of  the  Boston  Association,"  as  they  were  called 
by  Warren,  have  been  given  elsewhere  in  this  history.  No 
further  records  of  the  life  of  the  Society  appear  until  the  for- 
mation of  the  Boston  Medical  Associaton  in  1806,  chartered 
in  1 8 10.  This  society  had  as  its  guides  James  Jackson  and 
John  Warren,  and  the  high  moral  sentiments  inculcated  by 
those  men  have  ever  since  been  the  basis  of  action  among  their 
successors.  The  society  under  the  presidency  of  J.  Collins 
Warren  flourishes  to-day. 

Besides  these  medical  societies,  there  were  two  societies  of 
medical  students  in  existence  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution : 
(7)  one  among  the  students  at  Harvard  College,  and  (8)  one 
among  the  medical  students  in  Philadelphia.  The  Harvard 
organization  (7)  owned  a  skeleton,  and  they  dissected  ani- 
mals. John  Warren,  Eustis,  Adams,  Norwood  and  Town- 
send  were  the  leading  members,  and  the  interest  among  their 
fellows  was  continued  through  the  war.  Eustis  and  Adams 
frequently  refer  to  this  society  in  their  letters  to  Warren  and 
others  during  those  years  preceding  the  founding  of  the  Har- 
vard Medical  School.  This  society  was  the  first  society  of 
medical  students  formed  in  America.  Under  the  guidance 
first  of  Josqih  Warren,  and  stimulated  later  by  John  Warren 
it  helped  make  possible  the  foundation  of  a  medical  school. 
The  members  of  the  society  were  often  suspected  of  procuring 
material  for  their  dissections  by  the  shady  methods  then  in 
vogue.     Upon   the  establishment  of  the  Medical   School   the 


LAWS,  SOCIETIES,  LIBRARIES  681 

need  of  the  society's  separate  existence  ceased  and  nothing 
further  is  known  about  it.  (9)  The  American  Medical  So- 
ciety founded  in  1773  was  a  more  formal  and  extensive  affair. 
A  regular  constitution  was  adopted,  and  medical  articles  of  a 
creditable  nature  were  read  at  the  meetings.  These  papers 
were  usually  published  in  the  "Universal  Asylum  and  Colum- 
bian Magazine." 

The  charter  members  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society 
numbered  thirty-one,  and  the  membership  was  limited  to  sev- 
enty. These  men  were  termed  Fellows,  while  those  who 
passed  successfully  the  Society's  examinations  did  not  become 
members,  as  they  do  to-day,  but  were  simply  Licentiates — that 
is  to  say,  the  society  judged  them  persons  fit  to  practice  med- 
icine. This  rather  complicated  arrangement  was  fashioned 
after  the  type  of  English  educational  bodies  of  that  time,  espe- 
cially the  Royal  College  of  Physicians.  However,  the  spirit 
of  the  times  in  America  was  opposed  to  such  discrimination, 
so  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  many  respectable  practitioners 
refusing  to  submit  themselves  to  an  examination  which  re- 
sulted in  apparent  professional  inequality. 

One  of  the  articles  of  the  Harvard  Medical  School,  estab- 
lished the  following  year,  recited,  "That  every  student  who 
on  examination  shall  be  judged  qualified  to  enter  upon  the 
practice  of  surgery,  shall  have  a  certificate  under  the  seal  of 
the  University,  that  he  has  had  a  regular  medical  education, 
and  that  on  a  public  examination  he  has  been  found  qualified 
for  such  practice." 

As  we  have  seen,  the  Medical  Society  claimed  that  the  grant- 
ing of  a  diploma  by  the  University  was  an  interference  with 
their  own  charter  rights  to  issue  letters  testimonial  to  quali- 
fied applicants.  The  point  at  issue  was  finally  adjusted  sat- 
isfactorily. In  the  meantime  the  legislative  Act  of  February 
10,  1789,  defined  more  fully  the  duties  of  the  Society  in  regard 
to  the  examination  and  education  of  candidates.     Then  came 


682  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

the  important  Act  of  March  8,  1803.  This  law  removed  the 
restriction  on  the  number  of  members  in  the  Society,  and 
abolished  the  election  of  Fellows  by  the  Society.  District  So- 
cieties were  formed,  censors  were  established,  and  the  standard 
of  medical  education  was  raised.  The  State  law  contained 
the  following  words :  "and  every  person,  who  shall  receive  the 
said  letters  testimonial,  and  such  also  as  hereafter  may  be 
admitted  to  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  medicine  at  Harvard 
University,  shall  be  entitled  to  the  use  of  the  libraries  of  the 
society,  under  such  restrictions  as  the  councillors  may  direct : 
and  after  three  years'  approved  practice  in  medicine  and  sur- 
gery, and  being  of  good  moral  character,  and  not  otherwise, 
shall,  upon  application  *  *  *  be  admitted  a  member 
(Fellow)  of  the  said  corporation." 

In  1806  the  following  rule  was  established  by  the  Society : 
'To  promote  the  laudable  designs  of  the  Legislature  in  form- 
ing and  incorporating  this  Society,  to  prevent  as  far  as  may 
be  all  unqualified  persons  from  practising  medicine  or  sur- 
gery, and  in  order  to  discourage  enpericism  and  quackery;  it 
shall  be  deemed  disreputable  and  shall  be  unlawful  for  any 
Fellow  of  this  Society,  in  the  capacity  of  physician  or  surgeon 
to  advise  or  consult  with  any  person,  who  having  been  a  Fel- 
low of  this  society,  shall  be  expelled  therefrom,  or  with  any 
person  whatsoever,  who  shall  hereafter  commence  the  practice 
of  medicine  or  surgery  within  this  Commonwealth,  until  he 
shall  have  been  duly  examined  and  approbated  by  the  Censors 
of  the  Society  or  by  those  of  some  district  Society."  The  as- 
sistance given  by  the  Medical  Society  to  the  Harvard  Medical 
School  in  frustrating  an  attempt  (1811)  to  establish  a  rival 
medical  college  in  Boston  has  been  told  in  previous  pages.  It 
is  not  necessary  to  give  the  laws  of  1818  and  1819  by  which 
members  of  the  Society  and  graduates  of  the  Harvard  Medical 
School  were  exclusively  and  equally  made  beneficiaries  of  the 
provisions  of  those  acts  in  the  matter  of  collecting  fees. 


LAWS,  SOCIETIES,  LIBRARIES  683 

In  183 1  the  "three-years  approved  practice"  clause  of  the 
1803  Act  was  repealed,  and  in  the  following  year  Licentiates 
of  the  Society  and  medical  graduates  of  Harvard  and  Berk- 
shire were  allowed  to  become  Fellows  by  signing  the  by-laws. 
In  1837  the  same  privileges  enjoyed  by  graduates  of  Harvard 
were  extended  to  the  graduates  of  the  Berkshire  Medical 
School,  while  all  practitioners  outside  these  three  classes, — 
Harvard  graduates,  Berkshire  graduates,  and  members  of  the 
Medical  Society,  came  to  be  regarded  as  irregular  practition- 
ers. 

In  1850  Fellowship  was  confined  to  Harvard  and  Berkshire 
graduates,  to  those  having  medical  degrees  approved  by  the 
Censors,  and  to  those  who  passed  a  Censors'  examination,  as 
well  as  to  respectable  practitioners  of  fifteen  years  practice 
prior  to  1852,  if  elected  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  a  District  So- 
ciety. In  i860  the  by-laws  required  all  but  medical  graduates 
of  Harvard  and  Berkshire  to  be  examined  by  the  Censors,  and 
in  1874  it  was  voted  that  all  candidates  must  be  examined  by 
the  Censors.  The  present  Code  of  Ethics  was  adopted  in 
1884. 

From  such  a  sketch  it  may  be  seen  that  the  Massachu- 
setts Medical  Society  has  always  been  active  in  advancing  the 
standard  of  medical  education.     Starting  with  a  limited  mem- 

The   following   "amount"   for  an   annual   dinner     (1833)  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts  Medical   Society   is   interesting: 

196  Dinners    $1.00     $196.00 

42  botts  Claret    75     31-50 

33      "       S.  Madaria   1 .00     33. 

41       "      Cider     37lA ' 

u      "      Porter    50     6.00 

ii  Gals   Lemonade    1.50     16.50 

9  doz.  Cigars yjV> 3.37 


$301.75 

For  each $1-54 

Wine  for  each 33 


684  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

bership  and  with  the  idea  of  making  the  society  a  scientific 
body,  it  cautiously  increased  its  membership,  guarding  jeal- 
ously the  purposes  of  its  inception.  Its  aim  has  been  to  raise 
the  standard  of  the  whole  rather  than  to  promote  the  interests 
of  the  few.  It  has  prescribed  courses  of  study,  and  has  pointed 
out  the  means  of  acquiring  the  best  information;  it  has  been  a 
medical  school  in  itself  with  the  highest  standard  of  quali- 
fication,* it  has  made  available  to  its  members  the  best  liter- 
ature of  the  day ;  its  members  furnished  the  first  American 
Pharmacopeia ;  smallpox,  spotted  fever  and  cholera  were 
robbed  of  their  virulence,  and  the  public  was  protected  through 
the  activity  and  wisdom  of  this  society;  it  made  the  study  of 
anatomy  a  scientific  pursuit;  it  established  proper  medical  in- 
vestigations in  place  of  the  antiquated  coroner  system ;  its 
members  organized  the  first  Board  of  Health  in  the  United 
States,  and  inaugurated  a  system  of  registration  of  vital  sta- 
tistics which  has  served  as  a  model  for  other  States  and  other 
countries.  The  seal  of  its  approval,  after  a  thorough  and 
impartial  investigation  of  vaccination  and  surgical  anaesthesia, 
first  inspired  public  confidence  in  those  procedures;  its  persist- 
ent effort  to  mark  a  distinction  between  educated  and  unedu- 
cated practitioners  of  medicine  within  its  jurisdiction  was  re- 
warded by  a  notable  victory.  Finally,  we  see  the  Massachu- 
setts Medical  Society,  with  the  wisdom  of  the  sage  and  the 
vigor  of  youth,  at  the  end  of  her  one  hundred  and  twenty-third 
year,  the  guide  and  confidant  of  a  harmonious  and  prosperous 
family.  The  Harvard  Medical  School  has  every  reason  for 
gratitude  to  this  Society,  which  has  been  its  unswerving  ally 
for  a  hundred  years. 

Medical  libraries  in  this  country  l>efore  1800  were  not  as 
numerous  as  one  might  suppose.   The  first  library  was  founded 

*  Israel  Atherton.  A.  B.,  Harvard,  1762,  recommended  October,  1789,  a 
course  of  five  years  of  study  to  those  who  had  not  received  a  collegiate 
education. 


LAWS,  SOCIETIES.  LIBRARIES  685 

at  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital  in  1760,  and  this  was  followed 
by  that  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  Medical  Depart- 
ment in  1765,  by  the  Dartmouth  library  in  1769,  by  one  at 
the  College  of  Physicians  in  Philadelphia  in  1788,  by  the  Har- 
vard Medical  School  library  in  1782,  and  by  that  of  the  New 
York  Hospital  in  1796.  J.  S.  Billings  says,*  "There  are  a 
few  books  written,  prior  to  1800,  which  every  well  educated 
medical  man  should  (I  will  not  say  read,  but)  dip  into,  such 
as  some  of  the  works  of  Hippocrates  and  Galen,  of  Harvey 
and  Hunter,  of  Morgagni  and  Sydenham;  but  this  is  to  be 
done  to  learn  their  methods  and  style  rather  than  their  facts 
and  theories ;  and  by  the  great  majority  of  physicians  it  can 
be  done  with  much  more  profit  in  modern  translations  than 
in  the  originals.  The  really  valuable  part  of  the  observations 
of  these  masters  has  long  ago  become  a  part  of  the  common 
stock,  and  the  results  are  to  be  found  in  every  text-book." 

Just  as  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  had  established 
and  maintained  a  high  standard  of  qualifications  among  the 
physicians  of  New  England,  so  do  we  find  her  leading  the 
way  to  the  founding  of  medical  publications  and  medical  libra- 
ries. In  1785  the  Society  appointed  corresponding  secretaries 
for  the  different  counties  of  Massachusetts  (then  including 
the  district  of  Maine)  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  profes- 
sional intercourse  and  progress. §  In  1790  the  Society  issued 
a  number  of  "Medical  Papers."  The  amount  of  the  assess- 
ments did  not  warrant  another  issue  until  1806.  There  was  a 
third  in  1808.  These  papers  comprise  the  first  volume  of  the 
series  of  Communications,  still  issued  by  that  Society,  and 
these  Communications  were  known  as  "The  Library  of  Prac- 
tical Medicine,"  from  1831  to  1868.    From  1856  to  1871  they 

*  Address  on  "Our  Medical  Literature."  by  John  S.  Billings,  M.  D.,  l88l, 
International   Medical   Congress.  London.   England. 

§  In  1786  the  Society  voted  twenty  pounds  for  the  purchase  <>f  books; 
in  1789,  thirty  pounds. 


686  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

were  called  "The  Publications  cf  the  Massachusetts  Medical 
Society." 

In  1805  Jonn  C.  Warren  and  James  Jackson  formed  a  pri- 
vate medical  Society  to'  which  were  invited  Dixwell,  Coffin, 
Bnllard,  Shattuck,  Jeffries,  Fleet  and  Homans.  It  was  called 
The  Second  Social  Society  or  Boston  Medical  Library.  This 
private  Society  had  an  annual  assessment  of  ten  dollars,  and 
met  weekly  (Thursday)  for  the  purpose  of  reading  and  dis- 
cussing medical  papers.  The  meetings  continued  until  the 
death  of  all  the  members.     From  the  announcement  we  read : 

"  December  30,  1805." 
'  The    Boston   Medical   Library   will    be    opened   on    Thursday   next   at 

Dr.  Fleet's. 

"  A  few  books  only  have  arrived.* 

"  N.    B.      Books    received    and    delivered    on    Mondays    and    Thursdays 

between  three  and  five  oclock,  P.  M." 

In  1807  this  library  was  removed  to  39  Marlborough  Street, 
already  the  medical  centre  of  the  city,  and  placed  in  charge  of 
an  apothecary,  Amos  Smith.  The  list  of  books  in  the  cata- 
logue of  that  date  shows  twenty-nine  titles  and  forty-three 
volumes.^  This  collection  increased  gradually,  until  in  1823 
it  comprised  13  ti  volumes,  valued  at  $4500.  Three  years 
later  this  Boston  Medical  Library  ceded  its  collection  of  books 
to  the  Boston  Athenaeum  upon  the  following  terms : 

"  That  each  proprietor  of  the  medical  library  should  have  the  privilege 
of  a  life  subscriber  on  the  payment  of  five  dollars  per  annum,  and  should 
become  a  proprietor  of  the  Athenaeum  by  paying  one  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars,  such  life  subscriber  to  have  the  right,  on  his  removal  from  Boston, 
to  transfer  his  share  for  and  during  the  period  of  his  life;  that  the  mem- 
bers   of   the   medical    library    should    have    access   to    the   privileges   of   the 

*A  circular  to  the  members  during  this  year  stated  that  "the  books 
ordered  last  year  from   Europe  have  not  yet  been  received." 

§  "  The  Medical  Libraries  of  Boston,"  by  James  R.  Chadvvick,  M.  D., 
1876.  Much  of  the  information  on  "Libraries"  given  here  was  obtained 
through  Dr.  Cbadwick. 


LAWS,  SOCIETIES,  LIBRARIES  68  7 

Athenaeum  during  the  then  coming  year  for  the  sum  of  ten  dollars ;  and 
that  the  medical  department  should  receive  its  full  proportion  of  the  sums 
applied  hereafter  to  the  purchase  of  books." 

The  Boston  Athenaeum,  founded  in  1807,  was  the  succes- 
sor of  the  Anthology  Club,  as  the  Anthology  Club  had  been 
of  the  Natural  Philosophy  Society  founded  in  1801  by  Presi- 
dent Kirkland.  The  object  of  the  Anthology  Club  was  to 
establish  a  general  reading  room  and  library  of  reference.  No 
books  were  circulated  by  the  Athenaeum  until  1826,  when  it 
received  the  library  of  the  Boston  Medical  Library.  The  only 
surviving  members  of  the  Second  Social  Society  at  the  time  of 
this  transfer  in  1826  were  Jackson  and  Warren. 

Medical  libraries  have  a  certain  distinction,  in  that  a  great 
part  of  their  usefulness  depends  upon  contemporary  literature, 
especially  upon  periodicals.  Medical  libraries  must  contain 
what  Holmes  called  the  dead  medical  literature  and  the  live 
medical  literature.  No  one  disputes  the  value  of  the  ancient 
literature.  Without  it  there  would  be  no  progress  save  in  a 
circle.  As  the  poet  says,  "The  dead  is  not  all  ancient,  the  live 
is  not  all  modern." 

Development  of  the  medical  periodical  is  modern.  At  first 
the  periodical  consisted  of  papers  read  before  a  medical  soci- 
ety, and  published  annually;  or,  occasionally,  more  often.  The 
first  medical  periodical  of  record  was  "Acta  Medicorum  Be- 
rolinensium,"  published  in  T722.  The  next  was  "Medical 
Essays  and  Observations,"  begun  in  Edinburgh  in  1731.  The 
latter  annual  became  a  quarterly  in  1773"  under  the  name 
"Medical  and  Philosophical  Commentaries."  It  returned  to 
the  annual  form  about  1793.  as  the  "Annals  of  Medicine." 
That  quarterly  was  the  first  medical  quarterly  published  in 
English.  Meanwhile  the  Germans  issued  a  second  work 
(Leipsic  1753)  entitled  "Commentarii  de  Rebus  in  Scientia 
Natural!  et  Medicina  gestis."  The  first  French  medical  pe- 
riodical  appeared    in    175.!,    published   by   Vandermonde,   at 


688  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Paris.  It  had  the  title  "Recueil  Periodique  d'Observations  de 
Medecine,  de  Chirurgie,  et  Pharmacie."  In  1759,  the  first 
number  of  the  "Journal  de  Medecine"  was  issued  at  Paris. 
Thus  it  was  that  the  first  medical  periodicals  took  their  orign 
at  three  medical  centres.  The  prominence  of  the  Edinburgh 
School  makes  conspicuous  the  absence  of  a  London  medical 
journal. 

Now  this  introduction  of  medical  periodicals  had  an  im- 
portant bearing  on  medical  progress.  It  accentuated  the 
breaking  away  from  a  blind  following  of  the  fathers.  Hip- 
pocrates, Celsus,  Galen,  and  even  Paracelsus,  were  still  vener- 
ated, though  not  idolized.  The  new  literature  succeeded  in 
making  pathology,  surgery  and  therapeutics  universal  rather 
than  local.  It  gave  to  all  physicians  many  of  the  advantages 
hitherto  enjoyed  by  the  few  who  had  visited  the  Universities 
and  Hospitals  of  foreign  lands.  It  brought  new  discoveries, 
new  methods  of  research,  new  modes  of  treatment  to  receptive 
minds  and  supple  hands,  to  prove  or  reject.  Such  methods 
of  imparting  knowledge  reached  these  shores  at  an  opportune 
time.  Medical  men  were  no  longer  taking  all  their  ideas  from 
abroad.  They  were  coming  to  respect  their  own  resources; 
and  so,  on  July  26,  1797,  three  American  physicians  (Samuel 
L.  Mitchell,  Elihu  H.  Smith  and  Edward  Miller,  who  had 
never  visited  Europe)  published  the  first  number  of  the  "New 
York  Medical  Repository."  This  periodical  was  issued  quar- 
terly, and  had  a  life  of  twenty  years.  The  second  American 
periodical  was  the  "Philadelphia  Medical  and  Physical  Jour- 
nal," founded  in  1803  by  Benjamin  Smith  Barton.  It  ran 
through  three  volumes,  when  it  was  superseded  by  the  "Med- 
ical Museum,"  edited  by  John  Redman  Coxe.  In  1809  To- 
bias Watkins  published  the  "Baltimore  Medical  and  Physical 
Recorder,"  and  in  181 1  Nathaniel  Potter  established  the  "Bal- 
timore Medical  and  Philosophical  Lyceum."  "The  Philadel- 
phia Eclectic  Repertory,"  started  in  181 1  by  a  society  of  phy- 


LAWS,  SOCIETIES,  LIBRARIES  689 

sicians  and  carried  on  until  1820,  gave  to  the  world  McDow- 
ell's first  account  of  ovariotomy. 

In  181 1,  in  Boston,  Jackson,  J.  C.  Warren,  Channing,  Jacob 
Bigelow,  Gorham,  Hayward,  Ware  and  Webster  formed  a 
club  which  met  weekly  for  the  review  and  criticism  of  medical 
papers  offered  for  publication.  The  "New  England  Medical 
Journal"  resulted,  and  the  first  number  of  that  periodical  was 
issued  in  January,  1812.     Here  is  the  prospectus: 

'•  PROPOSALS 
"  By  Thomas  B.  Wait  and  Co.,  Boston,  for  Publishing 

"  A    WORK,    TO    BE    ENTITLED    THE 

"NEW  ENGLAND  JOURNAL 

OF 

"  MEDICINE  AND  SURGERY, 

AND 

,;  THE  COLLATERAL  BRANCHES  OF  SCIENCE. 


TO   BE   CONDUCTED   BY    A    NUMBER   OF    PHYSICIANS. 


"  Before  a  new  work,  especially  a  Journal,  presents  itself  to  the  world, 
it  is  customary  to  exhibit,  through  the  medium  of  a  prospectus,  the  object 
it  proposes,  and  the  claims  it  thence  derives  on  the  public  countenance  and 
support. 

"  The  nature  and  objects  of  a  Medical  and  Philosophical  Journal  are 
generally  understood  to  consist  in  the  following  particulars:  1st.  In 
the  collection  and  preservation  of  valuable  facts  and  observations  from 
original  sources,  which,  probably,  would  not  reach  the  light  through  any 
other  channel.  2d.  In  exhibiting  at  an  early  period  to  its  readers  such 
interesting  discoveries  and  speculations  from  abroad,  as  from  their  remote- 
ness, and  other  circumstances  of  difficulty,  would  generally  be  accessible 
only  to  a   few. 

'  THE  acknowledged  utility  and  satisfactory  encouragement  of  periodical 
works  of  the  above  character  in  almost  every  part  of  Europe  and  the 
United  States,  is  considered  by  the  editors  of  the  intended  publication, 
as  a  pledge  of  its  success.  In  the  United  States  alone  not  less  than  eight 
or  ten  Medical  Journals  have  been  carried  on  with  more  or  less  success 
during  the  last  ten  years.  In  the  New  England  states,  however,  no  one 
is  at  prcserjt  known  to  exist.  Relying  on  encouragement  from  a  section 
of  the  union,  which,  as  they  are  willing  to  believe,  is  not  disposed  to  loiter- 
in  the  paths  "i"  science,  or  to  withhold  its  patronage  from  literary  enter- 


690  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

prise,  the  editors  confidently  submit  their  plan  to  the  consideration  of  the 
public. 

"  THE  Journal  will  generally  consist  of  three  departments ;  the  first 
appropriated  to  original  communications,  and  to  such  papers  as  may  be 
selected,  on  account  of  their  peculiar  merit,  from  foreign  publications; 
the  second  to  a  review ;  and  the  third  to  scientific  intelligence.  For 
the  supply  of  original  matter,  the  editors  depend  not  only  on  their  own 
exertions,  but  also  on  a  correspondence  with  such  gentlemen  of  science 
as  shall  be  inclined  to  favour  them  with  the  results  of  their  investigations. 
The  pages  of  the  Journal  will  always  be  open  to  the  accurate  observer 
of  nature,  the  useful  experimenter,  and  the  rational  theorist.  Contro- 
versial essays  on  the  various  unsettled  points  of  medical  science  will  be 
admitted  with  the  strictest  impartiality,  provided  they  contain  nothing 
personal  nor  acrimonious.  Professional  gentlemen  throughout  the  Eastern 
stales  will  experience  a  convenience  in  the  vicinity  of  the  work,  not  realized 
by  those  who  avail  themselves  of  the  slow  and  uncertain  channels  of 
remote  publications. 

"  FOR  completing  the  remaining  departments  the  editors  rely  on  their 
own  diligence,  aided  by  an  early  and  general  access  to  foreign  publica- 
tions, which  in  a  commercial  metropolis  is  effected  with  tolerable  facility. 
As  their  principal  aim  is  to  render  the  work  useful,  particularly  to 
gentlemen  of  the  faculty  who  have  not  access  to  large  libraries  and 
modern  publications,  it  is  contemplated  to  give,  from  time  to  time,  such 
histories  of  European  practice,  and  such  abstracts  of  new  and  interesting 
books,  as  a  constant  intercourse  with  sources  of  the  highest  authority 
shall  enable  them  to  furnish.  ' 

"THE  editors  have  been  encouraged  to  attempt  this  publication  by 
the  opinion,  that  a  taste  for  medical  literature  has  greatly  increased  in 
New  England  within  a  few  years  past.  This  they  are  ready  to  impute 
in  some  measure  to  the  valuable  productions  of  the  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut  Medical  Societies.  Yet  it  is  evident  that  these  publications 
are  not  calculated  to  gratify  the  increasing  desire  for  medical  informa- 
tion, both  because  they  are  not  made  frequently,  and  because  they  consist 
only  of  original  cases.  The  sea-porl  towns  of  the  United  States  are 
the  first  receptacles  of  European  science,  and  from  these  the  most  direct 
channels  ought  to  be  formed,  through  which  it  might  be  poured  into 
ry  part  of  our  country.  New  methods  of  practice,  good  old  ones 
which  are  not  sufficiently  known,  and  occasional  Investigations  of  the 
modes  in  common  use,  when  thus  distributed  among  our  medical  breth- 
eren  in  the  country,  will  promote  a  disposition  for  inquiry  and  reflection, 
which   cannot   fail   to   produce   the   most   happy   results. 

"To  the  cultivators  of  science  generally  throughout  our  country,  the 
work  is  offered  as  an  early  vehicle  of  information  in  the  several  branches 
of   philosophy   and    science.     To   those   who   justly   appreciate  the   import- 


LAWS,  SOCIETIES,  LIBRARIES  691 

ance  of  regular  intelligence  in  the  various  progressive  sciences,  a  work 
on  the  plan  of  this  Journal  will  not,  it  is  hoped,  he  altogether  unac- 
ceptable." 

"  Boston,  Sept.,   1811." 


Subscriptions  to  be  returned,  by  the  first  day  of  January  next, 
to  the  publishers;  to  whom  communications  (post  paid)  are  to  be 
addressed." 


"  Subscriptions  for  the  above  work  received  by  W.  Hilliard,  Cambridge; 
Henry  Whipple,  Salem;  E.  Little  and  Co.  and  Thomas  and  Whipple, 
Newburyport ;    Wm.  B.  Allen,  Haverhill ;   J.  Avery,  Plymouth  ;    I.  Thomas, 

Jr.,    Worcester;     Simeon    Butler,    Northampton;    Massachusetts: 

A.    Lyman    and    Co.    Portland;    E.    Goodale,    Hallowell ;    Maine: C. 

Tappan,    and    C.    Pierce,    Portsmouth ;    J.    Hinds,    Hanover ;    G.    Hough, 

Concord;    New    Hampshire: Swift    and    Chipman,    Middlebury ;    P. 

Merrifield  and  Co.  Windsor;  J  A.  Gallup,  Woodstock;  J.  K.  Baker,  Bur- 
lington; Vermont: H.  G.  Hale  and  Co.  Hartford;  Beers  and  Howe, 

New   Haven;    Connecticut: Mess.   Collins,   New    York:    S.   Morford, 

Princeton,  (N.  J.);  John  F.  Watson,  Philadelphia;  F.  Lucas,  Baltimore; 
Daniel  Rapine,  Washington  city;  Joseph  Milligan,  Georgetown,  (D.  Col.)  ; 
R.  Gray,  Alexandria ;  J.  W.  Campbell,  Petersburg,  Virginia ;  Morford, 
Wellington,    and    Co.    Charleston,    South    Carolina." 


"CONDITIONS.  THE  work  will  be  published  in  numbers,  one  every  three 
months;    the  first  number  to  appear  in  January,   1812. 

"Each  number  to  contain  at  least  one  hundred  pages,  octavo;  to  be 
printed  on  good  paper,  and  a  neat  type;  and  to  make  a  volume,  yearly, 
of  four  hundred  pages,  or  upwards. 

"Price  to  subscribers,  tzco  dollars  a  year;  to  non-subscribers,  seventy- 
five  cents  a  number." 

Bartlett*  said  that  more  professional  knowledge  was  at  this 
time  attainable  in  a  single  season  than  was  known  to  Hip- 
pocrates, Galen,  and  their  successors  till  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century;  "twenty-seven  foreign  medical  works  have 
been  reprinted  in  Massachusetts,  sixteen  of  which  were  either 
in  whole,  or  in  connection  with  others,  by  Isaiah  Thomas." 


*A  Dissertation  on  (he  Progress  of  Medical  Science  in  the  Common- 
wealth of  Massachusetts;"  read  before  Massachusetts  Medical  Society. 
June  6,  1810,  by  Josiah   Bartlett. 


692  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Thus  in  fifteen  years  the  more  important  medical  centres  in 
this  country  had  established  medical  journals  more  or  less 
intimately  connected  with  the  medical  schools. 

Warren  says§  that  one  of  the  designs  of  the  medical  jour- 
nal in  Boston  was  to  aid  the  Medical  School.  That  Journal 
was  measurably  successful.  Wistar  wrote  from  Philadelphia : 
"we  are  much  pleased  here  with  your  periodical  work — the 
'New  England  Journal.'  The  talents  and  the  information 
which  are  displayed  in  it  will  commend  it  to  the  respect  and 
attention  of  all  well-informed  physicians,  and  must  establish 
its  reputation." 

In  1823  it  was  evident  that  a  weekly  publication  would  be 
better  suited  to  the  needs  of  the  profession,  so  J.  V.  S.  Smith 
began  the  publication  of  the  "Medical  Intelligencer,"  in  Bos- 
ton. He  was  succeeded  by  Coffin  in  1825.  At  that  time  the 
editors  of  the  "New  England  Medical  Journal"  were  Chan- 
ning  and  Ware.  Those  interested  decided  to  unite  the  two 
journals,  and  the  design  was  accomplished  by  Warren,  who 
paid  two-thirds  of  the  price  asked  by  Coffin  (six  hundred  dol- 
lars) and  assumed  the  editorship  of  the  new  weekly,  which 
was  christened  "The  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal." 
The  first  issue  appeared  in  1828,  and  the  publication  continues 
to  this  day.  For  many  years  the  "Boston  Medical  and  Sur- 
gical Journal"  was  the  only  regular  weekly  medical  publica- 
tion in  this  country. 

Boston  had  then  a  population  of  about  sixty  thousand  and 
there  were  seventy-one  regular  physicians.  The  irregular  phy- 
sicians, mostly  of  the  Thomsonian  order,  were  numerous,  how- 
ever. It  was  estimated  that  Thomson's  followers,  lay  and 
professional,  numbered  one-sixth  of  the  population  of  the 
city,  and  that  users  of  patent  medicines  constituted  another 
sixth.     Three  years  later  (1831)  reports  say  that  the  Massa- 

§  "  Life  of  John  C.  Warren,"  by  Edward  Warren,  vol.   I,  p.   117. 


LAWS,  SOCIETIES,  LIBRARIES  693 

chusetts  Medical  Society  included  nearly  all  the  educated  prac- 
titioners of  medicine  and  surgery  in  the  State.  In  1848  the 
number  of  physicians  in  the  State  had  reached  1237.  State- 
ments differ  as  to  the  number  who  had  became  members  in 
the  Medical  Society,  but  a  conservative  estimate  was  about 
seven  hundred. 

On  December  21,  1874,  Henry  I.  Bowditch,  F.  I.  Knight, 
O.  F.  Wadsworth,  James  R.  Chadwick,  O.  W.  Holmes  and 
A.  L.  Mason  met  at  Bowditch's  office  and  planned  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Boston  Medical  Library  Association,  which  was 
successfully  inaugurated  with  a  membership  of  133  members, 
on  August  20th,  1875.  The  Association  was  fortunate  in  its 
selection  of  a  librarian.  J.  R.  Chadwick  has  served  as  libra- 
rian since  the  establishment  of  the  Library,  and  all  men  admit 
that  the  position  which  the  Boston  Medical  Library  occupies 
to-day  has  been  reached  mainly  through  his  constant,  enthu- 
siastic and  fruitful  labors.  The  other  officers  chosen  on  Au- 
gust 20,  1875,  were:  President,  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes; 
Vice-President,  Henry  Ingersoll  Bowditch ;  Treasurer,  Amos 
Lawrence  Mason ;  Clerk,  Oliver  Fairfield  Wadsworth ;  Execu- 
tive Committee,  The  President,  Edward  Wigglesworth,  Fred- 
erick Irving  Knight,  John  Collins  Warren  and  William  Lam- 
bert Richardson.  Committee  on  Admissions :  James  C. 
White,  Henry  P.  Bowditch,  Thomas  Dwight.  The  rooms 
first  occupied  were  at  No.  5  Hamilton  Place. 

It  was  not  any  dearth  of  libraries  containing  medical  litera- 
ture in  Boston  and  Massachusetts  that  inspired  the  founders 
of  the  Boston  Medical  Library  Association.  Here  is  a  fairly 
complete  list  of  libraries  then  in  existence  here: 

1.  The  Boston  Athenaeum,  already  mentioned. 

2.  The  library  of  the  Harvard  Medical  School.  This 
library  grew  out  of  the  action  of  the  Medical  Faculty,  Novem- 
ber 1,  1816,  "That  a  new  library  be  formed  in  the  Massachu- 


694  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

setts  Medical  College,  by  donations  of  the  Medical  Faculty, 
to  consist  principally  of  elementary  works." 

3.  The  Library  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society, 
founded  in  1781,  and  deposited  later  with  the  Boston  Public 
Library,  founded  in  1852.  The  City  Library  had  about  9000 
volumes  in  its  medical  department,  and  was  increasing  at  the 
rate  of  over  five  hundred  volumes  a  year.  It  had  the  best  and 
most  extensive  list  of  journals  and  periodicals  of  any  of  the 
libraries  in  the  city.  It  had  been  the  recipient  of  many  private 
collections  of  medical  libraries  of  deceased  or  retired  physi- 
cians. 

4.  The  Treadwell  Library  at  the  Massachusetts  General 
Hospital,  founded  in  1857  through  the  gift  of  J.  G,  Tread- 
well,  of  Salem.  Treadwell  bequeathed  his  own  library  and 
the  sum  of  forty  thousand  dollars,  of  which  five  thousand  dol- 
lars were  set  aside  as  a  permanent  fund,  the  interest  to  be 
devoted  to  the  purchase  of  books.  This  library  numbered 
3527  volumes  at  the  time  of  the  founding  of  the  Boston  Med- 
ical Library  Association 

5.  The  Library  of  the  Boston  Society  for  Medical  Obser- 
vation, founded  in  1846,  contained  a  collection  of  over  nine 
hundred  volumes,  including  many  valuable  American,  Eng- 
lish, French  and  German  Journals. 

6.  The  Library  of  the  Boston  Society  for  Medical  Im- 
provement, founded  in  1828,  had  four  hundred  and  seventy- 
four  volumes,  including  many  rare  historical  books. 

7.  The  Library  of  the  Gynecological  Society  of  Boston 
was  founded  in   1839. 

8.  The  Library  of  the  American  Statistical  Association 
was  founded  in  1839.  These  Libraries  of  the  four  last  named 
societies  were  combined  in  1875,  ar>d  were  placed  with  restric- 
tions in  the  Boston  Medical  Library. 

9.  The  City  Hospital  Library  was  founded  in  1865,  with 
one  thousand  volumes. 


LAWS,  SOCIETIES,  LIBRARIES  695 

Besides  these  libraries  there  were  many  large  and  extensive 
private  libraries,  many  of  which  have  since  come  under  the 
care  of  the  Boston  Medical  Library.  The  aggregate  contents 
of  the  Boston  Medical  Library  at  the  end  of  its  first  year  was 
2639  volumes  of  journals,  404  volumes  in  the  obstetrical  sec- 
tion, and  1445  in  the  general  library,  making  a  total  of  4488 
volumes  in  all.* 

The  Boston  Society  of  Natural  History  and  the  American 
Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences  had  in  Boston  a  combined 
library  of  nearly  30,000  volumes,  covering  a  wide  range  of 
subjects,  many  of  them  relating  to  medicine. 

The  College  at  Cambridge  had  a  medical  department  of 
3783  books.  This  had  been  founded  in  1802  by  Ward  Nich- 
olas Boylston,  who  gave  to  the  College  a  valuable  collection 
of  eleven  hundred  volumes  as  a  special  tribute  to  his  uncle, 
Zabdiel  Boylston.  To  W.  N.  Bolyston  the  Medical  School 
also  is  indebted  for  a  valuable  collection  of  anatomical  prep- 
arations, constituting  the  museum  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Nich- 
ols. That  was  the  Ward  Nicholas  Boylston  who  established 
the  annual  prize  for  the  best  medical  dissertation  by  a  student 
and  recent  graduate  of  the  Medical  School. 

Certain  Districts  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  had 
founded  libraries  for  their  own  members.  Especially,  there 
were  those  of  the  Essex  South  District  at  Salem,  1805;  the 
Worcester  District,  1845 ;  the  Berkshire  District  at  Pittsfield, 
1879;  and  the  Worcester  North  District  at  Fitchburg,  1858. 

The  Boston  Medical  Library  Association  soon  outgrew  its 
first  home,  and  on  December  3.  1878,  it  dedicated  to  its  uses 
the  building  at  19  Boylston  Place.  At  this  meeting  there  was 
an  unmistakable  note  of  approval  by  those  best  qualified  to 
judge  of  its  progress;  and  there  resulted  a  confidence  in  its 
future,  far  in  excess  of  the  most  sanguine  hopes  of  the  initia- 

*  From   First  Annual  Report  of  the  Library. 


696  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

tors  of  the  undertaking.  The  President,  Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes,  gave  the  dedicatory  address ;  J.  S.  Billings  of  Wash- 
ington made  a  stirring  speech,  President  Eliot  spoke  for  the 
University,  upon  the  character  of  the  work  and  its  significance 
in  medical  education ;  George  H.  Lyman,  the  President  of  the 
Massachusetts  Medical  Society,  expressed  that  Society's  sym- 
pathy in  this  work  which  had  for  one  hundred  years  been  its 
own  special  object.  Henry  I.  Bowditch  spoke  for  the  founders 
of  the  Association. 

From  such  a  start  there  followed  expansion  slow  but  in- 
evitable; and  in  less  than  fifteen  years  there  were  numbered 
in  the  catalogue  more  than  10,000  volumes  for  which  there 
were  no  accommodations  on  the  shelves.  After  the  financial 
panic  of  1893  an  active  group  of  the  younger  physicians  took 
the  matter  in  hand,  and  raised  $70,000  by  subscription  in  one 
year.  This  was  added  to  the  sum  realized  by  the  sale  of  the 
Boylston  Place  property,  and  realized  a  total  of  over  $110,000 
with  which  to  procure  new  quarters.  A  handsome  building 
was  erected  at  No.  8  The  Fenway  and  was  dedicated  on  Jan- 
uary 12th,  1901.  Here  is  what  J.  R.  Chadwick  said  in  1903, 
about  the  undertaking:* 

"  First,  as  regards  our  collection  of  books  and  periodicals,  I  am  fre- 
quently asked  how  they  have  been  procured  with  little  if  any  expenditure 
of  money.  The  ways  were  numerous,  but  all  natural.  We  started  with 
about  1,500  volumes  loaned  to  us  by  the  two  Societies  above  mentioned; 
with  a  list  of  these  I  personally  visited  every  physician  in  town  who 
was  known  to  have  a  considerable  library,  and  from  these  I  solicited, 
and  usually  obtained,  such  as  I  wanted.  From  these  sources  I  increased 
the  library  so  that,  at  the  end  of  the  second  year  it  numbered  6,000 
volumes.  The  editors  of  the  ''  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal " 
have  given  us  for  twenty-seven  years  the  journals  received  by  them  in 
exchange,  by  which  libra]  succor  we  have  been  able  to  lay  before  our 
readers  an  abundance  of  current  literature,  without  expense  to  us.  Of 
course  a  limited   number  of  journals  had  to  be  secured  by  subscription 

* "  The  Boston  Medical  Library,"  by  James  R.  Chadwick,  Librarian, 
"  Medical   Library   and    Historical   Journal,"   April,    1903. 


BOSTON  MEDICAL  LIBRARY  — JOHN  WARE  HALL. 


From  Medical  Library  and  Historical  Journal. 


bd 
O 
co 
H 
O 

w 
o 

o 

> 

r 


> 
I 

> 
O 

a 
w 

> 
r 
r 


LAWS,  SOCIETIES,  LIBRARIES  697 

to  insure  prompt  delivery.  The  same  course  has  been  followed  by  the 
editors  of  the  "  Annals  of  Gynecology  and  Pediatry "  since  its  founda- 
tion in  1887.  From  instrument-makers  and  drug  firms  we  have  from  time 
to  time  received  the  accumulations  of  Journals  which  they  received 
gratuitously  because  of  their  advertisements. 

"  As  soon  as  we  had  made  it  evident  we  were  meeting  a  long-felt  want 
and  were  to  be  a  permanency,  we  began  to  receive,  as  gifts  or  on  deposit, 
the  libraries  of  other  associations ;  the  Gynecological  Society  of  Boston, 
the  Boston  Dispensary,  the  Roxbury  Athenaeum ;  more  recently  the  library 
of  the  Harvard  Medical  School,  exclusive  of  such  volumes  as  were 
reserved  for  use  in  connection  with  its  several  laboratories ;  the  medical 
department  of  the  Harvard  College  Library  in  Cambridge,  etc. 

"All  the  medical  journal  clubs,  which  subscribe  for  and  circulate  cur- 
rent periodicals  among  their  members  turn  them  over  to  us  when  they 
have  made  the  circuit. 

"  Very  soon  we  began  to  receive,  as  bequests  or  gifts  of  surviving 
relatives,  the  libraries  of  all  deceased  physicians,  among  the  most  im- 
portant of  which  I  would  mention  those  of  Dr.  Edward  H.  Clarke,  Dr. 
John  E.  Tyler,  Dr.  George  C.  Shattuck,  Dr.  Edward  Jarvis,  Dr.  Calvin 
Ellis,  Dr.  R.  W.  Hooper,  Dr.  Samuel  Cabot,  Dr.  John  O.  Greene,  Dr. 
F.  H.  Hooper,  Dr.  T.  B.  Curtis,  Dr.  Edward  Wigglesworth,  Dr.  O.  W. 
Holmes,  Dr.  A.  M.  Sumner,  Dr.  W.  C.  B.  Fifield,  Dr.  Edward  Jacob 
Forster  and  many  others. 

"  The  completeness  of  our  files  of  journals  and  transactions  is  largely 
due  to  a  '  want  book,'  which  has  gone  through  three  editions  in  manu- 
script, wherein,  upon  the  left  hand  page,  is  entered  the  title  of  every 
periodical  of  which  we  have  any  part,  while  on  the  opposite  page  is 
entered  every  volume  or  number  needed  to  complete  the  file.  By  invari- 
ably carrying  this  with  me  upon  my  travels  in  this  country  and  Europe, 
I  have  been  able  gradually,  at  a  trifling  expenditure  of  money,  or  bv 
exchange  with  other  libraries,  to  complete  the  files  of  all  the  leading 
periodicals  of  the  world. 

"  Our  aim  has  been  to  devote  all  our  energy,  and  such  small  sums  of 
money  as  could  be  spared  from  current  expenses,  to  the  department  of 
periodicals,  as  being  the  class  of  literature  most  in  demand,  especially 
since  the  publication  of  the  "Index  Catalogue  of  the  Library  of  the  Sur- 
geon General's  Office,"  the  "Index  Medicus"  and  the  "Bibliographic 
Medica."  We  have  over  20,000  volumes  of  periodicals  as  contrasted 
with  15,000  books,  not  including  our  duplicate  library  for  homo  circula- 
tion, which  numbers  3,000  to  4,000  volumes  of  the  principal  periodicals. 

"  Finally,  as  to  finances.  For  the  first  three  years  we  depended  upon 
the  annual  dues  of  133  members  at  the  outset,  and  gradually  increasing. 
In  1878  we  raised  by  subscription  over  $10,000  with  which  we  boughl 
the  house,   19  Boylston    Place,   remodeled   it  and   found  ourselves   with  a 


698  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

mortgage  of  $S,ooo,  which  was  paid  off  three  years  later.  In  1879  we 
established  a  Director}'  for  Nurses  from  which  there  has  been  an  annual 
profit  of  from  $2,oco  to  $4,000.  Since  our  removal  to  Boylston  Place 
we  have  leased  our  halls  to  various  medical  societies  for  their  meetings, 
from  which  the  revenue  has  been  from  $1,000  to  $1,200  a  year.  Finally, 
in  1898-1899  we  raised  by  subscription  $70,000  with  which  we  built,  and 
moved  into  the  present  building,  finding  ourselves  with  a  mortgage  of 
$25,000  on  which  the  interest  is  to  be  met  for  fi\e  years  by  seventy  of 
the  younger  members,  and  a  second  mortgage  of  $22,000.  This  year 
(1903)  we  have  assumed  another  mortgage  of  $24,000  for  the  purpose 
of  purchasing  the  adjoining  lot  of  3,000  square  feet  and  holding  it  for 
future  development.  A  few  funds,  varying  from  $300  to  $1,500  in  memory 
of  deceased  members,  the  interest  of  which  is  devoted  to  the  purchase 
of  books,  complete  the  list  of  our  assets. 

"  Our  membership  now  consists  of  6  life  members  compounding  the 
annual  dues  by  a  single  payment  of  $150,  of  410  active  members  paying 
$10  yearly  and   159  associate  members  paying  $5  yearly. 

"  We  have  the  utmost  faith  in  the  future,  based  on  reasonable  expecta- 
tions of  being  able  to  meet  the  obligations  which  we  have  assumed,  in 
the  near  future.  Last  year's  income  from  all  sources  amounted  to  over 
$10,000  and  our  expenses  exceeded  that  sum  by  only  $200. 

"  P.  S. — Our  faith  is  shown  to  have  been  well  founded,  by  the  official 
announcement  made,  while  these  pages  have  been  going  through  the  press, 
that  our  Library  is  a  beneficiary,  under  the  will  of  the  late  Robert  C. 
Billings,  to  the  extent  of  $50,000. 

"  Boston,   March   21,    1903." 

Besides  the  various  societies  already  named  in  this  chapter, 
there  have  been  or  now  exist  others  composed  almost  exclu- 
sively of  Harvard  Medical  Graduates, — societies  which  have 
done  much  directly  and  indirectly  to  foster  Harvard's  inter- 
ests. Some  consideration  of  their  objects  and  workings  is 
appropriate  here. 

The  Boylston  Medical  Society  of  Harvard  University — an 
undergraduate  organization — was  founded  in  January,  1811. 
It  had  for  its  purposes  the  promoting  of  emulation  and  in- 
quiry,  as  well  as  the  dissemination  of  medical  knowledge 
among  students  of  the  Medical  School.  Persons  other  than 
Harvard  students  may  be  admitted  to  the  society  by  a  unan- 
imous vote  of  the  members.     A  person  duly  elected  to  the 


BOSTON  MEDICAL  LIBRARY  — HOLMES  HALL. 


Prom  Medical  Library  and  Bistorlcal  Journal. 


LAWS,  SOCIETIES,  LIBRARIES  699 

Society  pays  an  annual  fee  of  three  dollars.  After  he  has  per- 
formed this  obligation  for  two  years,  or  in  less  time  if  he  has 
taken  his  degree  in  medicine,  he  may  be  made  an  honorary 
member.  The  Society  gives  a  diploma  in  the  form  of  cer- 
tificates of  membership  to  those  members  who  have  performed 
their  duty  to  the  society.  Meetings  are  held  weekly  during 
the  academic  year  and  as  often  as  the  Society  may  at  other 
periods  determine.  At  these  meetings  the  members,  each  in 
his  turn,  present  dissertations  and  cases,  and  other  casual 
topics  are  discussed.  The  funds  of  the  Society  arising  from 
the  entrance  fees  and  fines,  after  defraying  the  incidental  ex- 
penses, were  originally  devoted  to  the  purposes  of  establishing 
a  library.  Since  the  Medical  Faculty  undertook  the  expense 
of  providing  and  maintaining  a  free  library  for  the  members 
of  the  Medical  School,  the  funds  of  the  Boylston  Society  have 
been  appropriated  in  prizes  for  the  best  anatomical  prepara- 
tion made  by  members  during  the  terms  of  the  Lectures.  All 
these  prize  preparations  have  become  the  property  of  the  Boyl- 
ston Society,  and  form  the  valuable  cabinet  which  that  Society 
has  presented  to  the  school. 

In  1902  recent  graduates  of  the  School,  former  Boylston 
members,  formed  the  Aesculapian  Club,  to  carry  on  the  meet- 
ings in  which,  as  undergraduates,  they  had  taken  part.  This 
Club  adds  to  its  membership,  annually,  such  Boylston  men  as 
are  graduated  in  Medicine.  One  of  its  objects  is  to  stimulate 
and  perpetuate  interest  in  and  loyalty  to  the  Harvard  Medical 
School. 

The  Boston  Society  for  Medical  Improvement  was  incor- 
porated by  an  Act  of  the  Legislature,  March  20,  1839.  The 
names  mentioned  in  the  first  section  of  that  Act  arc  those  of 
John  Ware,  Jacob  Bigelow,  and  Enoch  Hale.  The  objects 
stated  arc  the  cultivation  of  confidence  and  good  feeling  be 
tween  members  of  the  profession,  and  the  eliciting  and  im- 
parting of  information  upon  the  different  branches  of  medical 


700  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

science.  This  Society  founded  a  library,  and  its  meetings 
were  held  fortnightly.  In  1839  the  Society  had  been  in  exist- 
ence since  February  19,  1828,  and  had  already  come  to  be  the 
leading  medical  society  of  Boston.  It  started  with  the  follow- 
ing members:  Zabdiel  B.  Adams,  John  P.  Spooner,  George 
W.  Otis,  Jr.,  Joshua  H.  Hayward,  D.  Humphreys  Storer, 
Horatio  Robinson,  Jas.  M.  Whittemore,  J.  G.  Stevenson,  Jo- 
seph W.  McKearn,  Enoch  Hale,  and  John  Ware.  The  list 
was  soon  increased  to  twenty-five,  and  included  Winslow 
Lewis,  Benjamin  Lincoln,  George  Parkman,  Walter  Chan- 
ning,  and  John  D.  Wells.  The  first  meetings  were  held  at  the 
homes  of  members,  and  were  quite  informal.  Each  member 
reported  verbally  such  cases  or  observations  as  interested  him, 
especially  on  obstetrical  practice  and  infectious  diseases.  A 
pathological  museum  was  started,  and  the  new  born  "Bos- 
ton Medical  and  Surgical  Journal"  received  the  Society's  sup- 
port. In  1830  the  Society  procured  rooms  over  Smith  and 
Clark's  drug  store  on  Washington  Street.  It  started  a  library 
for  its  members,  and  with  the  stimulus  afforded  by  the  elec- 
tion to  membership  of  J.  B.  S.  Jackson,  O.  W.  Holmes,  Jacob 
Bigelow  and  Jeffries  Wyman  the  growth  of  the  museum  was 
increased.  About  the  year  1840  interest  began  to  wane;  new 
blood  was  needed.  Of  this  it  received  the  best;  Samuel  Cabot, 
Jr.,  Henry  J.  Bigelow,  George  Hayward  and  Morrill  Wyman; 
while  S.  L.  Abbott,  B.  E.  Cotting,  N.  B.  Shurtlefr,  Buckmin- 
ster  Brown,  Lyman,  Moreland,  Oliver,  Townsend,  Gay,  Derby 
and  Francis  Minot  were  among  those  admitted  to  the  Society 
during  the  1840-50  decade.  With  Bigelow,  Warren,  and 
Charles  T.  Jackson  attending  the  meetings,  and  with  the  intro- 
duction of  ether  agitating  the  public,  much  valuable  discussion 
must  have  taken  place,  but  nowhere  in  the  records  of  the 
Society  does  there  appear  any  of  that  rancor  and  bitterness 
which  characterized  the  ether  controversy  elsewhere.  The  roll 
abounds  in  famous  Boston  medical  names :     J.  Mason  War- 


LAWS,  SOCIETIES,  LIBRARIES  701 

ren,  J.  C.  White,  C.  D.  Homans,  R.  M.  Hodges,  Samuel 
Cabot,  Calvin  Ellis,  J.  N.  Borland,  J.  P.  Reynolds  are  a  few 
noted  in  the  transactions  of  the  Society.  With  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  epoch  known  in  medicine  as  that  of  "aseptic  sur- 
gery," and  with  the  rise  of  bacteriology,  the  Society  became 
the  forum  for  many  important  discussions.  From  the  leth- 
argy which  age  and  divided  interests  had  produced  in  this 
Society,  the  strong  positive  mind  of  James  C.  White  gathered 
the  nucleus  of  the  present  organization.  This  was  in  1880. 
White  became  its  first  president.  Probably  there  is  to-day  no 
one  semi-private  Society  in  Boston,  if  anywhere  in  the  coun- 
try, which  has  upon  its  active  roll  so  many  teachers  of  medi- 
cine and  leaders  in  medical  thought  and  action  as  has  the  Bos- 
ton Society  for  Medical  Improvement.  In  April,  1876,  the 
Improvement  Society  transferred  its  library,  then  amounting 
to  474  volumes,  to  the  Boston  Medical  Library  Association. 
The  members  of  the  Society  were  by  the  terms  of  the  contract 
permitted  to  retain  full  ownership  of  their  library  and  book- 
cases, and  the  right  to  take  from  the  rooms  their  own  books. 
They  were  to  bind  their  own  journals  and  insure  their  own 
collection.  From  1848  to  1855  the  Transactions  of  the  So- 
ciety had  been  published  in  the  "American  Journal  of  the  Med- 
ical Sciences."  In  January,  1855,  they  were  transferred  to 
the  "Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,"  in  which  they 
still  appear.* 

In  1894  the  Society  united  with  the  Boston  Society  for 
Medical  Observation.  This  latter  Society  had  been  founded 
in  1835  by  John  Ware  and  Henry  I.  Bowditch.  It  was  com- 
posed at  first  of  medical  students,  and  as  a  student  society 
it  existed  for  two  years  when  it  was  discontinued  until  1846. 

*"The  Story  of  the  Boston  Society  for  Medical  Improvement,"  by 
J.  G.  Mumford,  M.  D. ;  in  "  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,"  March 
14,  1901. 


702  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Then  Bowditch  and  seven  others*  revived  it  under  the  same 
name.  It  was  called  a  society  of  the  younger  men  of  the  pro- 
fession, and  it  had  a  creditable  existence.  The  Boston  Med- 
ical Library  Association  took  its  birth  from  this  Society.  As 
time  went  on  the  kindred  interests  and  associations  of  the 
Medical  Improvement  Society  and  the  Observation  Society 
made  a  union  of  forces  profitable  and  advantageous  to  both, 
and  it  was  arranged  to  unite  them,  retaining  the  name  of  the 
older,  The  Boston  Society  for  Medical  Improvement.  The 
Observation  Society  had  for  its  object  the  reading  of  original 
papers.  They  tell  how  the  criticism  was  so  unsparing  that  at 
least  one  member  resigned  on  account  of  his  unwillingness  to 
stand  the  fire.  The  Society  was  fashioned  after  the  society 
of  Paris  bearing  the  same  name, — that  Society  which  had 
Louis  for  its  President.  The  purpose  sought  by  the  Boston 
Observation  Society  was  "to  make  its  members  good  observ- 
ers of  disease,  to  collect  and  arrange  accurately  recorded  facts 
in  furtherance  of  the  cause  of  medical  science,  and  to  publish 
from  time  to  time  the  results  of  the  examination  of  such  facts." 

*  Charles  E.  Buckingham,  George  Derby,  John  D.  Fisher,  Samuel  Knee- 
land,  Jr.,  Fitch  E.  Oliver,  William  H.  Thayer,  and  John  B.  Walker. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI. 


JACOB   BIGELOW. 

A.  B.   1806;  A.  M.;    LI..  I).  1857;    M.  I).  I'niversity  Pennsylvania  L810; 
Professor  of  Materia  Medica  1815-1855. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  705 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

EMINENT    ALUMNI. 
I. 

JACOB  BIGELOW. 

In  the  history  of  every  University  there  must  be  found  in- 
stances in  which  important  teaching  positions  have  not  always 
been  awarded  to  merit,  and  Harvard  is  no  exception.  Round 
pegs  have  sometimes  been  forced  into  square  holes,  but  Jacob 
Bigelow  seems  born  for  the  place  which  Harvard  created  for 
him.  In  the  year  1815  he  was  elected  to  the  Lectureship  of 
Materia  Medica  and  Botany.  Here  was  a  young  man  only 
twenty-eight  years  of  age,  without  social  distinction;  with  no 
inheritance  other  than  a  strong  body  and  a  fertile  brain ;  with 
no  friends  other  than  his  college  chums,  and  these  too  young 
to  help  him ;  yet  he  had  already  won  prominence  by  his  suc- 
cessful competition  in  four  successive  years  of  the  Boylston 
Prize  contest,  an  achievement  which  necessity  keenly  stimu- 
lated and  one  which  no  doubt  was  the  means  of  winning  for 
him  the  friendship  of  James  Jackson.  Becoming  his  asso- 
ciate in  the  practice  of  medicine  (1811),  Bigelow  was  placed 
in  the  best  atmosphere  to  develop  those  varied  talents  which 
in  after  years  secured  the  respect  of  all  cultivated  men. 

In  1812,  recognizing  the  success  of  young  Gorham  in  his 
popular  lectures  on  Chemistry,  Bigelow  suggested  to  some 
friends  the  wisdom  of  such  a  course  in  Botany.  This  gave 
him  a  chance  to  utilize  his  early  experience  of  country  life  and 
his  studies  of  the  nature  and  habits  of  plants.     More  impor- 


706  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

tant  still,  it  associated  him  with  Professor  Peck,  of  the 
Harvard  Botanic  Garden;  it  opened  a  correspondence  with 
famous  American  and  European  botanists;  it  resulted  in  the 
publication  of  "Florula  Bostoniensis"  (1814),  and  made  the 
author  the  obvious  choice  of  the  Harvard  Corporation  for  the 
position  of  Lecturer  on  Botany  and  Materia  Medica,  first  cre- 
ated for  the  growing  Medical  School.  His  success  in  this 
office  designated  him  for  the  Rumford  Professorship,  to  which 
he  was  appointed  a  year  later  ( 1816).  Let  us  then  learn  some- 
thing of  this  genius,  upon  whom  Harvard  College  conferred 
a  dual  position,  a  circumstance  unique  in  her  long  history. 

Perhaps  that  was  the  most  remarkable  life  in  Harvard  Med- 
ical Annals.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  said  of  Bigelow  :  "1  do 
not  believe  that  I  wrong  any  of  the  distinguished  physicians 
and  surgeons  I  have  known,  either  in  this  country  or  in  Eu- 
rope, when  I  say  that  I  think  he  had  the  most  capacious  and 
best-furnished,  many  chambered  brain  of  all  the  medical  men 
I  have  known.  Others  may  have  excelled  him  in  this  or  in 
that  particular,  but  he  touched  more  subjects  in  literature, 
science,  practical  life,  art;  and  not  only  adorned  but  improved 
more  that  he  dwelt  with,  than  any  other  member  of  the  pro- 
fession I  have  been  personally  acquainted  with."* 

Jacob  Bigelow  was  born  in  that  part  of  Watertown  which  is 
now  Waltham,  on  February  27,  1787.  His  American  an- 
cestry goes  back  to  John  and  Mary  (Warren)  Bigelow,  who 
were  married  at  Watertown  in  1642,  when  they  allowed  an 
English  legacy  to  lapse  on  account  of  John  Bigelow's  refusal 
to  return  to  England.  Our  young  Bigelow  lived  at  the  old 
homestead  until  the  age  of  thirteen,  spending  five  or  six 
months  of  the  year  at  such  schooling  as  the  neighborhood 
afforded.    The  rest  of  the  year  was  occupied  with  minor  duties 

*  Remarks  at   a  meeting  of  Massachusetts  Historical   Society,  February, 
1879.     Mass.   Hist.   Proceedings,  vol.   XVII,  p.  41. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  707 

about  the  farm,  and  "wasting  my  time  in  roving  about  the 
woods,  puzzling  myself  with  speculations  on  natural  objects, 
and  taking  intense  delight  in  the  construction  of  miniature  saw- 
mills, machinery  for  entrapping  rats  and  squirrels,  and  rude  at- 
tempts at  drawing  and  carving."  How  much  of  his  future  suc- 
cess came  from  these  simple  joys  we  will  see  presently.  In  his 
brief,  modest  autobiography  he  alludes  feelingly  to  the  high  de- 
gree of  cultivation  possessed  by  his  mother,  and  how  he  antici- 
pated difficulty  in  procuring  a  college  education  from  the  mea- 
gre resources  of  his  father's  income  as  minister  of  the  parish. 
His  father,  Jacob  Bigelow,  Sr.,  was  graduated  at  Harvard 
College  in  1766,  and  ordained  minister  of  Sudbury  in  1772. 

Custom  and  tradition  procured  for  the  son  a  course  at  Har- 
vard, notwithstanding  the  father's  poverty,  the  depressed  state 
of  the  College  after  the  trials  and  losses  of  the  Revolutionary 
War,  and  the  heated  religious  controversy  then  being  waged 
between  orthodox  and  liberal  schools.  During  his  college 
life  Bigelow  showed  that  catholicity  of  spirit  which  marked 
his  future  career,  for  we  find  him  enrolled  in  all  the  societies 
and  clubs  then  existing  in  Cambridge.  He  was  the  poet  of  his 
Commencement  Day  in  1806. 

Then  came  the  choice  of  a  profession — Divinity,  Law, 
Medicine.  Willi  Divinity  he  was  already  somewhat  familiar 
both  at  home  and  at  school.  The  dogmatism  of  the  day  re- 
pelled him.  His  refusal  to  pronounce  the  oration  necessary 
to  secure  the  Master's  Degree  from  his  Alma  Mater  indicates 
his  attitude  towards  public  speaking,  while  his  natural  aver- 
sion to  medicne  was  inherently  strong.  However,  he  attended 
the  lectures  of  the  medical  professors  during  his  senior  year 
at  Cambridge,  as  was  then  the  custom.  Here  he  shared  the 
fate  which  had  befallen  many  students  before  and  for  years 
after.  He  came  under  the  spell  of  that  fluent  and  charming 
John  Warren.  "1  thought  1  discovered  that  a  physician  might 
be  fluent  and  accomplished,  and  serve  his  generation  in  other 


708  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

ways  than  as  a  mere  vehicle  of  pills  and  plasters.  I  began  to 
think  that  if  a  man  could  obtain  a  foothold  in  a  city,  and 
diversify  his  calling  with  the  additional  function  of  a  lecturer 
or  professor,  he  might  find  his  position  agreeable  and  advan- 
tageous." 

He  decided  to  be  a  physician,  and  he  aimed  at  the  highest 
and  best  in  medicine.  By  spending  a  year  at  Worcester  in 
teaching  a  small  class  of  boys,  he  earned  money  enough  to 
go  to  Boston  and  matriculate  (1808)  in  medicine  at  Har- 
vard. At  the  same  time  he  entered  as  a  pupil  the  office  of  John 
Gorham.  During  this  first  year  in  Boston,  Bigelow  taught 
in  the  Latin  School.  This  enabled  him  to  pay  his  expenses 
without  calling  further  on  the  resources  of  his  parents,  "al- 
ready overburdened  by  the  cost  of  my  previous  education." 
While  occupying  this  position  he  acquired  a  sound  knowledge 
of  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics,  verifying  the  truism  that  the 
best  learning  is  gained  through  teaching. 

In  1809  he  went  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  entered  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania  as  a  medical  student  under  Rush, 
Wister,  Physick,  Barton  and  Coxe.  Here  he  found  greater 
opportunities  for  research  and  experiment  than  were  offered 
at  Boston.  He  became  a  private  pupil  of  Barton,  then  the 
leading  botanist  of  America.  It  was  while  at  Philadelphia 
that  he  won  the  Boylston  prize.  The  incident  was  so  charac- 
teristic of  the  man  that  it  is  worth  telling  in  his  own  words  : 

"  Although  a  medical  student  in  my  second  year,  my  presumption  was 
excited  to  hecome  a  competitor  for  one  of  these  premiums.  Yet  so  great 
was  my  diffidence  at  the  thought  of  presuming  at  a  mark  far  beyond  my 
reach,  that  I  concealed  my  purpose  from  every  one,  and  wrote  a  long 
essay  on  '  Cynanche  maligna.'  in  winter  time,  in  a  cold  chamber,  being 
obliged  to  wear  a  glove  on  my  right  hand  to  preserve  the  flexibility  of 
my  fingers.  At  length,  the  work  being  completed,  I  sallied  out  in  a 
dark  evening,  and  left  it  at  the  door  of  Dr.  Lemuel  Hayward,  chairman 
of  the  committee.  Anxiously  did  I  wait  for  days  and  weeks,  expecting 
to  see  the  success  of  some  person  announced  in  the  newspapers.  But  at 
length  appeared  a  notice  from  the  committee,  announcing  no  award,  but 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  709 

simply  continuing  the  same  subjects  for  another  year.  Mortified,  but 
not  exactly  disappointed,  I  sent  to  reclaim  my  unworthy  dissertation, 
and  found  within,  on  the  envelope,  '  Received  Jan.  2,  too  late  for  exami- 
nation.' 

"  Thus  although  my  ambitious  dream  was  not  realized,  yet  I  felt 
relieved  rather  than  rebuked,  for  it  at  once  occurred  to  me  that  I  could 
now  devote  a  whole  year  to  perfecting  my  production,  and  offer  it  at  the 
end  of  that  time  with  a  more  reasonable  prospect  of  success.  This 
vision,  however,  was  succeeded  by  a  better  one,  to  wit,  that  I  might  again 
offer  the  same  dissertation  as  it  was,  and  add  to  it  another  essay  on  one 
of  the  other  subjects  proposed  by  the  committee,  thus  taking  my  chance 
for  two  premiums  instead  of  one.  A  new  dissertation  was  therefore 
undertaken  on  '  Phthisis  Pulmonalis,'  and,  that  the  two  might  not  appear 
to  be  written  by  the  same  individual,  I  procured  the  former  essay  to  be 

copied    in    a    different    hand In    the    following    winter    I 

received  letters  in  Philadelphia  informing  me  that  each  of  my  disserta- 
tions had  been  successful  in  carrying  off  its  prize.  This  little  event 
was  of  unspeakable  value  to  me  at  the  time.  Literary  prizes  .... 
were  at  that  day  a  novelty,  and  did  not  fail  to  entail  upon  the  author 
a  degree  of  eclat  which,  though  small,  was  nevertheless  far  beyond  his 
dessert,  and  more  than  cancelled  any  debt  which  the  world  might  have 
incurred  to  me  on  the  occasion.  I  am  constrained  to  add  that  the  small 
remittence  of  cash  which  followed  this  award  was  of  far  more  conse- 
quence to  me  than  the  optional  substitute  of  a  gold  medal,  which  I 
should  have  been  unable  to  eat." 

The  Bovlston  Prize  was  won  again  in  the  two  succeeding: 
years  by  Bigelow.  In  the  meantime  (1810)  he  had  obtained 
his  degree  in  medicine.  It  is  said  that  one  of  the  inducements 
for  going  to  Philadelphia  was  his  wish  for  the  highest  degree 
in  medicine,  an  M.  D.,  which  could  not  then  be  obtained  at 
home.*     He  wrote  this  characteristic  letter: 

"  Philadelphia,  March  6,  1810. 
"Dear  Parents,  As  my  friends  Bemis  and  Claiming  leave  this  place 
tomorrow  for  Boston,  I  cannot  let  the  opportunity  of  writing  escape. 
I  have  been  not  a  little  engaged  this  month  nr  two  past  in  preparing  for  an 
examination  (the  last,  I  trust,  to  which  T  shall  ever  be  subjected  in  the 
medical  line)  for  a  degree  of  M.  D.,  that  is  to  say,  Doctor  in  Medicine. 
The  medical  lectures  being  concluded,  our  professors  have  set  their  mill 
a-going  for  manufacturing  doctors.     Happening  to  pass  by  the  university 

*M.  B.  was  the  degree  granted  by  Harvard  until  the  year  [8ll 


710  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

to-day,  I  got  one  foot  entangled  in  the  mill,  and  not  being  able  to  dis- 
engage myself,  was  drawn  in  and  ground  over  for  about  an  hour,  and 
then  came  out  Dr.  Bigelow.  I  have  now  to  wait  only  for  the  Commence- 
ment, which  takes  place  the  last  of  April,  after  which  I  flatter  myself 
with  the  prospect  of  seeing  home  speedily.  During  the  rest  of  the  time 
1  shall  employ  my  time  in  attending  the  practice  of  the  hospital,  and 
looking  round  the  city,  which  as  yet  I   have  seen  very  little  of. 

"  I  can  now  see  no  obstacle  in  the  way  to  my  coming  and  settling 
with  Dr.  Mosman  and  laying  siege  to  part  of  the  practice  of  Cedar 
Swamp  and  Dungy  Hole.  As  the  Doctor's  wagon  is  pretty  capacious, 
I  think  I  might,  with  a  little  persuasion,  induce  him  to  allow  me  a  seat 
at  his  left  hand,  besides  learning  me  to  make  bullets,  pills,  and  sleeve- 
buttons. 

"Upon  looking  back  for  a  few  years.  I  cannot  but  consider  myself  as 
having  been  peculiarly  fortunate  thus  far.  After  being  three  years  out  of 
college,  two  and  a  half  of  which  I  had  kept  school,  and  two  of  which, 
properly  speaking,  I  had  studied  medicine,  I  found  myself  in  possession 
of  a  certificate  of  license  from  the  medical  society,  and  also  of  two  disser- 
tations which,  I  learn,  have  been  so  fortunate  as  to  obtain  prizes.  In 
this  place  I  have  obtained  a  degree  after  four  months  residence,  a  thing 
very  uncommon,  as  most  students  spend  two  or  three  winters  in  the  city 
before  obtaining  it. 

"  Should  I  ever  be  so  successful  as  to  obtain  a  competent  establishment 
in  business,  it  will  afford  me  no  small  satisfaction  to  reward  in  part  the 
kindness  of  my  friends,  and  to  contribute  as  far  as  is  in  my  power  to 
support  and  console  the  declining  age  of  my  parents.  But  as  it  would  be 
improper  to  presume  on  future  events,  I  can  only  at  present  asure  you 
of  my  best  wishes  and   unaltered  affection. 

"Rev.   Jacob    Bigelow.  "  JaCOB  Bigelow/' 

"  Sudbury." 

Following  his  determination  to  settle  in  a  large  town  rather 
than  in  a  narrower  and  less  attractive  region,  he  came  to  Bos- 
ton, where  acquaintances  were  few,  and  friends  or  connections 
unknown,  other  than  his  faithful  and  devoted  brother,  Henry, 
who  "  generously  offered  to  guarantee  my  support  for  one 
year  in  Boston,  if  I  should  determine  to  make  the  experiment 
of  the  city."  The  memory  of  that  brotherly  kindness  was  per- 
petuated in  the  name  of  the  future  eminent  surgeon,  Henry 
Jacob  Bigelow.  Already  assured  of  an  entree  into  the  best 
medical  circles  by  reason  of  his  membership  in  the  Massachu- 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  711 

setts  Medical  Society,  acquired  in  1809,  Bigelow  soon  gained 
access  to  the  best  among  the  social,  professional,  and  literary 
groupings  of  the  men  of  that  day.  This  association,  together 
with  the  business  partnership  formed  (1811)  with  the  newly 
elected  Professor  of  the  Theory  and  Practice,  James  Jackson, 
was  the  needed  stimulus  and  outlet  for  his  genius.  As  Ellis 
says,  he  was  artificer,  draughtsman,  machinist,  and  inventor, 
with  natural  gifts  for  all.  Any  one  of  these  qualities  would 
have  served  him  well  had  he  directed  his  thoughts  towards 
surgery  rather  than  medicine.  The  student  of  psychogenesis 
will  find  material  for  speculation  in  the  consideration  of  these 
qualities  of  the  father  showing  themselves  later  to  such  a 
marked  degree  in  the  son. 

We  have  already  told  how  he  came  to  be  elected  a  Professor 
in  Harvard  College.  Thirty  years  of  age,  a  full  professor  in 
one  department  and  a  lecturer  in  another;  the  colleague  of 
Warren,  Jackson,  Gorham  and  Channing;  a  correspondent  of 
European  wise  men,  and  the  author  of  the  only  lucid  Ameri- 
can work  on  botany;  rapidly  making  new  friends,  and  con- 
stantly extending  his  professional  labors,  we  can  safely  call 
Jacob  Bigelow  a  leader  among  Boston  physicians,  and  a  valu- 
able addition  to  that  group  of  great  teachers  who  adorned  our 
Alma  Mater  during  the  first  half  of  the  Nineteenth  century. 

Bigelow  was  a  member  of  the  Faculty  until  1855.  Besides 
his  "  Florula  Bostoniensis,"  the  second  edition  of  which  ( 1824) 
added  to  popular  enthusiasm  for  and  interest  in  the  study  of 
botany,  he  published  the  "  American  Medical  Botany  "  in  1818. 
The  art  of  lithography  and  photography  was  then  unknown, 
but  we  find  Bigelow  devising  a  method  of  printing  the  colored 
illustrations  which  added  greatly  to  his  reputation  for  resource- 
fulness. When  he  wanted  models  and  drawings  to  illustrate 
the  Rumford  lectures,  he  again  called  upon  his  inventive  mind. 
He  visited  the  glassblower,  the  clock  maker,  the  type  caster, 
the  printer,  the  turner,  the  moulder,  and  the  engraver.     No 


712  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

garret  was  too  humble,  no  cellar  too  damp,  no  work  shop  too 
dusty  or  too  noisy  for  this  active,  inquisitive,  practical  man. 
The  information  gleaned  or  the  knowledge  acquired  was  al- 
ways returned  with  manifold  interest  to  the  good  of  his  fel- 
lowmen.  Few  works  have  proved  more  useful  than  his  "  Ele- 
ments of  Technology,  etc.,"  published  in  1829.  It  is  a  verita- 
ble scientific  encyclopaedia,  as  it  is  a  dictionary  authority  for 
the  word  "  technology  "  itself. 

Naturally  he  supervised  the  construction  and  placing  of  a 
statue  to  Franklin,  now  standing  before  the  City  Hall,  Boston. 
With  keen  foresight  he  suggested,  urged  and  planned  the  exe- 
cution of  one  of  the  greatest  agencies  for  public  health  ever 
undertaken  by  a  single  man.  Not  only  did  the  project  of 
Mount  Auburn  Cemetery  originate  with  Bigelow,  but  he 
planned  the  grounds,  designed  the  gate,  the  chapel,  the  tower, 
and  even  the  iron  fence,  and  finished  his  labors  by  the  selection, 
donation  and  placing  of  that  granite  sphinx,  symbolizing  by 
the  lion  a  just,  calm,  and  dignified  self-reliance,  and  by  woman, 
beauty  and  benignity.  As  a  valued  editor  of  the  first  "  United 
States  Pharmacopoeia,"  in  1820,  we  see  his  practical  mind 
complete  a  scheme  for  simplifying  our  medical  nomenclature, 
which  has  ever  since  remained  intelligible. 

In  1832,  when  other  men  were  holding  back,  Bigelow,  with 
Ware  and  Flint,  visited  New  York  in  the  cholera  epidemic, 
amid  scenes  of  devastation  said  to  have  been  unparalleled  in 
modern  times,  and  worked  for  the  relief  of  the  victims,  ready 
to  suffer  martyrdom,  as  the  phrase  then  was,  in  order  to  pre- 
vent the  scourge  from  reaching  his  neighbors  and  friends.  So 
thoroughly  was  this  mission  performed,  so  minutely  were  his 
observations  recorded,  and  the  horror  of  the  situation  so 
vividly  impressed  upon  the  city  authorities  of  Boston,  that  they 
did  not  dare  to  publish  the  whole  report  lest  the  community  be 
further  alarmed.  If  Jacob  Bigelow  never  did  any  other  ser- 
vice for  his  state  and  city  he  deserves  well  for  this  work. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  713 

In  1833  Bigelow  went  to  Europe,  and  in  a  curious  printed 
circular  to  his  patients  he  gives  some  idea  of  the  extent  and 
range  of  his  practice,  for  he  mentions  four  physicians  upon 
whom  his  patients  were  to  depend  during  his  five  months'  ab- 
sence.    With  that  his  autobiography  ends. 

In  1835  Bigelow  gave  to  the  world,  through  the  "Com- 
munications of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society,"  his  strik- 
ing views  on  "  Self-limited  Diseases."  The  time  was  oppor- 
tune, the  public  mind  was  receptive.  Unsound  and  unscien- 
tific doctrines  were  already  attracting  well-meaning  but  mis- 
guided seekers  for  better  things.  In  one  brief  treatise  a  pow- 
erful mind  forced  the  truth  home  to  all  who  would  listen. 
Heroic  treatment,  blood  letting,  polypharmacy,  were  no  longer 
to  hold  sway.  The  young  philosopher,  who  keenly  extracted 
what  was  true  from  the  medical  lectures  during  his  senior 
year  at  Cambridge,  had  now  reached  that  age  and  position 
when  men  must  regard  his  opinions,  and  they  did.  Perhaps 
no  other  treatise  has  ever  had  such  an  influence  on  medical 
practice.  It  is  a  simple  lesson,  the  old  vis  medico tri.v  naturae. 
That  was  a  radical  doctrine  to  advocate,  but  Bigelow  was  con- 
vinced that  it  was  the  truth.  He  believed  no  channel  of  in- 
formation too  narrow,  no  season  inopportune,  no  audience  too 
commonplace  nor  too  scientific,  to  be  used  for  the  promulga- 
tion of  truth.  With  this  reform  his  name  must  always  be  as- 
sociated. Others  quickly  took  up  his  teaching,  and  in  the 
space  of  a  few  years  we  find  the  law  firmly  fixed. 

In  an  address  to  the  medical  students  in  1844  on  "  The 
Medical  Profession  and  Quackery,"  Bigelow  pointed  oul  in  a 
calm,  dispassionate,  uncontrovertible  manner  the  errors  of 
Homoeopathy,  as  well  as  the  limitations  and  inexactness  of 
much  of  medical  science  as  then  understood.  The  address  in- 
vited attacks  both  from  within  and  without  the  regular  pro- 
fession.    Bigelow's  opinions  prevailed. 

As  President  of  the  American   Academy  of  Arts  and  Sci- 


714  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

ences,  as  an  active  member  in  the  National  and  State  Medical 
Societies,  as  a  lucid,  frequent  writer  in  scientific,  literary  and 
lay  journals,  Bigelow  covered  such  a  wide  and  varied  domain 
that  the  review  of  his  contributions  would  carry  us  beyond  the 
limits  of  this  sketch.  There  is  one  paper  of  his,  however,  which 
calls  for  special  mention,  namely,  his  address  on  the  "  Limits  of 
Education,"  delivered  at  the  dedication  of  a  new  hall  for  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  on  November  16,  1865. 
Thirteen  years  before  this  date,  Bigelow  had  delivered  an  ad- 
dress on  medical  education  which  plainly  pointed  out  for  tech- 
nical teaching  the  reforms  which  were  subsequently  inaugurated 
at  Harvard  (1872).  In  this  prophetic  address  he  shows  the 
evils  and  shortcomings  of  the  existing  system,  and  wisely  in- 
dicates the  way  to  better  things.  The  usefulness  of  didactic 
lectures ;  laboratory  investigation  and  research ;  the  grouping 
of  students  into  small  sections;  and  the  line  of  demarcation 
between  exact  sciences  and  speculative  sciences,  are  all  defined 
in  a  way  that  seems  very  modern  today.  This  proposition  is 
published  with  his  "  Self-limited  Diseases  "  in  a  little  volume, 
together  with  many  medical  and  general  essays,  under  the  title, 
"  Nature  in  Disease,  and  Other  Writings,"  1854. 

Then  came  his  last  great  public  address,  Limits  of  Educa- 
tion. In  his  two-  previous  reforms  we  see  him  combating  the 
prejudice  and  apprehensions  of  those  who  saw  in  the  removal 
of  the  dead  to  a  place  remote  and  alone,  little  less  than  a  sacri- 
lege; and  in  his  "Self-limited  Diseases"  the  fixed  traditions 
of  almost  every  writer  of  note  and  authority.  All  his  learn- 
ing, all  his  force  of  language,  all  his  observations  and  deduc- 
tions of  nearly  four-score  years,  were  concentrated  in  one 
utilitarian  revolution  whereby  education  was  to  be  made  con- 
ducive "  to  the  progress,  the  efficiency,  the  virtue,  and  the 
welfare  of  man."  Nothing  could  have  been  more  typical  of 
the  best  Harvard  spirit.  Nothing  could  more  clearly  demon- 
strate her   ideals  that   she  trains  men   to   individuality.     No 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  715 

quoted  extracts  could  do  justice  to  the  broad,  rich,  luxuriant 
scholarly  culture  brought  out  in  that  memorable  discussion. 
After  a  lapse  of  nearly  half  a  century  many  of  the  principles 
sustained  are  the  foundation,  and  often  the  whole  superstruc- 
ture, of  modern  educational  principles  and  teaching.  Let  us 
fancy  that  venerable  sage,  too  old  to  meet  his  antagonists  upon 
the  Academy  floor  where  he  had  won  so  many  victories,  gath- 
ering them  within  his  own  parlors,  and  there  defending  the 
axioms  he  had  so  publicly  expounded  the  year  before.  In 
summary :  Bigelow's  contention  was  "  whether  education  is 
to  be  regarded  as  a  privileged  boon  restricted  to  the  few,  or  is 
to  be  offered  freely  to  the  many.  If  it  is  to  be  offered  to  the 
many,  then  there  must  be  an  extension  of  the  terms  and  con- 
ditions which  have  entered  into  the  definition  of  education, 
and  assign  the  means  and  the  honors  of  it  only  to  those  who 
had  attained  such  learning  as  the  mass  of  pupils  cannot  now 
acquire,  and  could  not  profitably  use  where  there  is  such  need 
of  quite  other  kinds  of  knowledge  and  skill."  There  was  no 
trace  there  of  failing  mental  power;  no  voice  from  the  past 
crying  out  against  the  neglect  of  the  old.  He  was  as  modern, 
as  progressive,  as  far  ahead  of  his  time,  as  when  he  first  came 
into  our  story  nearly  three-quarters  of  a  century  before.  Lecky 
dissented ;  Lyell,  Huxley,  Spencer  and  others  agreed. 
Whether  or  not  it  was  a  case  of  post  hoc,  propter  hoc,  the 
elective  system  in  higher  educational  curricula  expanded 
broadly. 

Many  interesting  things  are  told  by  Bigelow's  biographer 
of  the  years  following  the  old  man's  retirement  from  active 
professional  life.  In  the  closing  five  years,  totally  blind  and 
bedridden,  he  retained  a  mind  so  serene,  so  happy,  so  resource- 
ful, that  every  visitor  came  away  with  some  new  and  valua- 
ble treasure  from  that  intellectual  store  house.  Who  of  us 
at  the  end  of  life  would  not  be  cheered  by  such  a  let  tor  as 
this  : 


716  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

"  Boston,  Feb.  27,  1876. 

"  Dear  Dr.  Bigelow :  We  the  undersigned,  physicians  of  Boston  and  its 
vicinity,  desire  on  this  anniversary  of  your  birthday  to  join  with  your 
intimate  circle  of  friends,  in  respectful  remembrance  of  the  occasion. 

'  Though  for  many  years  prevented  by  your  infirmity  from  meeting  with 
us,  we  all  remember  you  with  pride  as  one  of  the  ornaments  of  our  pro- 
fession, and  as  a  leader  of  medical  thought  in  New  England  for  the  last 
half  century.  Very  many  of  us  recollect  you  as  a  teacher  and  able 
instructor  in  the  Medical  School  and  at  the  Hospital.  Those  of  us  who, 
in  past  days,  have  met  with  you  in  professional  life,  still  hold  grateful 
memories  of  your  unwavering  courtesy  and  kindness  to  us  personally, 
and   your   honorable   deportment   as    Senior    Consulting   Physician. 

"  One  and  all  of  us,  therefore,  dear  Dr.  Bigelow,  on  this  pleasant 
anniversary,  wish  to  send  to  you  our  congratulations  on  the  fact  that, 
although  deprived  of  sight  and  unable  freely  to  move,  you  have  not 
suffered  much  pain  during  your  long  confinement;  that  you  still  enjoy 
a  free  communion  with  friends,  and  that,  while  looking  at  past  and 
present  events  with  pleasure,  you  can  still  judge  of  them  with  the  clear 
intellect  of   former  days. 

"  That  the  remainder  of  your  life  may  have  the  same  peaceful  accom- 
paniments, so  grateful  not  only  to  yourself,  but  to  the  many  friends 
who    watch    around   you   in   your   more    immediate   family,   is   the   sincere 

hope     Of  it   Xr  r     .,,    r     „       „ 

lours  very  faithfully. 

Dr.  Bigelow  died  on  January  10th,  1879,  nearly  ninety-two 
years  old. 

JOSEPH  LOVELL. 

Joseph  Lovell,  the  first  Surgeon  General  of  the  United 
States  Army,  was  horn  in  Boston,  on  December  22nd,  1788. 
His  grandfather  Lovell  was  a  leading  member  of  the  "  Sons 
of  Liberty,"  and  was  taken  to  Halifax  as  a  hostage  by  the 
British  in  1776,  when  they  evacuated  Boston.  Upon  his  return 
the  elder  Lovell  served  in  the  Continental  Congress,  and  was 
chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs.  His  son, 
James  S.  Lovell,  married  Deborah  Gorham,  "  a  noted  Boston 
belle,"  and  to  this  couple  was  born  Joseph,  the  subject  of  this 
memoir. 

After  a  preliminary  education  in  the  schools  of  Boston,  Jo- 


JOSEPH    LOVELL. 


A.  H.  1807;  A.  M.  (Hon.)  1818;  M.  D.  ISI 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  717 

seph  Lovell  entered  Harvard  College  and  was  graduated  in 
1807.  He  began  immediately  the  study  of  medicine  with 
Ingalls,  in  Boston,  and  in  181 1  was  graduated  at  the  Harvard 
Medical  School,  a  member  of  the  first  class  which  received  the 
degree  M.  D.  from  Harvard.*  He  volunteered  May  15th, 
18 1 2,  as  Surgeon  in  the  9th  Infantry,  and  was  put  in  charge 
of  the  general  hospital  at  Burlington,  Vermont,  established  for 
the  troops  moving  towards  the  frontier  in  the  War  of  181 2. 
The  appointment  of  a  physician  not  yet  twenty-four  years  of 
age  to  such  an  important  post  indicates  the  state  of  the  Medi- 
cal Department  of  the  Army  at  the  beginning  of  hostilities. 
The  experience  of  the  Revolution  had  been  forgotten;  the 
greater  number  of  those  surgeons  who  had  served  in  that  war, 
men  whose  experience  would  now  have  been  of  value,  were 
either  dead  or  superannuated.  There  were  no  records  of  the 
medical  officers  preserved,  and,  with  no  executive  head  and 
no  organization  at  hand,  the  Medical  Department  was  in  a 
bad  way  when  the  army  assembled  at  Greenbush,  New  York 
in  18 12.  James  Mann,§  of  Massachusetts,  who  had  just  been 
appointed  Hospital  Surgeon  to  superintend  the  Medical  De- 
partment for  this  Northern  Army,  thus  describes  the  situa- 
tion : 

'  The  mere  organization  of  hospitals  was  the  least  perplexing  part  of 
duly.  The  illy  defined  powers  with  which  the  hospital  surgeons  were 
invested,  even  in  their  own  department,  subjected  them  to  many  disagree- 
able interferences  of  the  officers  of  the  line.  Collisions  will  always  exist 
between  officers  of  different  departments  of  an  army,  when  their  several 
powers  and  duties  are  not  explicitly  pointed  out.  Officers  tenaceous  of 
authority,  assume  as  much  as  may  be  implied  by  rules  and  regulations. 
In  addition  to  multiplied  embarrassments,  the  various  duties  attached 
to  the  office  of  hospital  surgeon  with  those  merely  professional,  was 
always  so  pressing,  thai  little  time  was  allowed  to  record  particularly 
the  diseases  and   medical   transactions  of  the  army,  as  they   occurred." 

*  Prior  to   l8ll   the  degree  given   was   M.    B. 
§  Graduated   A.    15.    Harvard,    1776. 


718  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Young  Lovell  showed  executive  ability  from  the  start;  his 
hospital  became  known  as  the  model  hospital ;  his  capacity 
soon  attracted  the  attention  of  General  Wilkinson,  and  later 
in  the  northern  frontier  campaign  secured  for  Lovell  the  en- 
dorsement of  Generals  Scott  and  Brown.  A  report  on  the 
Burlington  Hospital  says :  "The  following  regulations  were 
adopted  in  the  General  Hospital  at  Burlington,  where  in  no 
instance  from  its  first  establishment,  even  when  monthly  re- 
ports counted  from  six  to  nine  hundred  men,  was  an  infectious 
disease  generated  or  propagated."  Among  the  regulations  in- 
stituted by  Lovell  were:  frequent  washing  of  walls  and  floors, 
daily  sanding  of  the  floors,  frequent  and  generous  supply  of 
fresh  air  to  every  room  and  ward ;  "no  person  was  permitted 
to  spit  on  the  floors  of  the  wards.  Spit-boxes  were  furnished 
every  bed,  and  filled  with  sand  twice  a  clay,  sometimes  oft- 
ener;"  the  soldiers  suffering  from  infectious  and  contagious 
diseases  were  separated  from  the  other  sick,  and  surgical  cases 
were  not  allowed  in  the  some  rooms  with  febrile  cases ;  vene- 
real and  skin  diseases  were  given  a  separate  ward. 

After  the  battle  of  Bridgewater*  it  was  thought  advisable 
to  transfer  eleven  hundred  patients  from  Buffalo  to  Williams- 
ville.  where  a  General  Hospital  was  established  with  Lovell 
and  two  other  surgeons  in  charge.  Lovell  had  been  made  full 
Hospital  Surgeon,  June  30th,  1814.  Mann  wrote  under  date 
of  February  14th,  1814,  "Surgeons  and  Mates  of  regiments 
under  existing  discouragements  have  no  inducements  to  con- 
tinue long  in  service.  Curiosity  alone,  will  induce  them  to 
sacrifice  the  term  of  one  year  in  service.  This  being  gratified 
its  exciting  powers  lose  their  effects." 

In  December.  1814,  the  duties  of  medical  officers  in  the 
army  were  defined  for  the  first  time  by  a  general  order  from 
the   War  office.       Then  came  peace  with   its  heterogeneous, 

*July  25th.   1814. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  719 

"patch-work  kind  of"  legislation,  all  of  which  was  as  detri- 
mental to  better  discipline  as  it  was  to  the  health  of  the  troops. 
In  1817  Lovell,  the  chief  medical  officer  of  the  Northern 
Department,  addressed  to  Major  General  Brown  a  paper  on 
the  causes  of  disease  in  the  army.  This  report  dealt  with  the 
various  questions  of  reorganization  of  the  Medical  Depart- 
ment ;  it  was  the  basis  of  that  change  later,  and  marked  Lovell 
as  the  surgeon  best  fitted  to  execute  the  plan.  This  reorgan- 
ization is  interesting ;  it  reads  as  follows  : 

"  By  the  reports  received  from  the  different  posts,  it  appears  the  troops 
have  been  remarkably  healthy  during  the  past  year ;  for  the  whole  num- 
ber of  cases  (2138)  very  nearly  one  half  (1051)  are  slight  accidents  and 
transient  complaints,  which  detain  the  soldier  but  a  few  days  from  duty ; 
— 193  from  wounds  ; — and  55  venereal ; — leaving  but  838  of  fevers  and 
other  important  complaints. 

"Of  these  266  consist  of  the  different  kinds  of  inflammatory  fever; 
as  colds,  pleurisy,  &c. :  which  are  the  almost  inevitable  consequence  of  a 
cold  and  changeable  climate,  and  which  no  ordinary  care  can  prevent.  As 
they  must  always  be  incident  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  Northern  section 
of  the  Union,  and  particularly  to  the  soldier,  ought  not  the  most  efficient 
means  be  taken  to  enable  him  to  obviate  as  far  as  possible,  these  injurious 
effects  of  climate,  by  the  quantity  and  quality  of  his  clothing? 

"  Next  on  the  list  to  inflammations  comes  diarrhoea  and  its  attendant 
dysentery  (diarrhoea  246,  dysentery  94).  As  these,  particularly  diarrhoea, 
were  the  pests  of  our  army  during  the  war.  constituting  with  inflamma- 
tion, nearly  the  only  complaints ;  and  as  they  appear  to  be  the  chief 
cause  of  disease  even  in  peace,  it  must  be  a  matter  of  the  highest  im- 
portance accurately  to  ascertain  their  cause;  and  the  best  means  of 
removing   them,   or   obviating   their   deleterious   effects. 

"  It  required  but  little  ingenuity  lo  surmise  that  bad  food  and  worse 
water  would  produce  more  or  less  disturbance  in  a  man's  stomach  and 
bowels ;  especially  when  he  had  been  used  to  much  better  fare.  It  was 
therefore  a  very  easy  matter  to  account  for  all  the  diseases  of  the  soldier 
by   accusing   the   contractor  of   furnishing   unhealthy   provi  ind    the 

water   of   containing    deleterious    ingredu  .1-.      This    mode    of    explaining 
the    difficulty    rendered    police    duty    vastly    easier    to    the    officers    of 
line,   and   furnished   the   surgeon    with   a   brief   and    saitsfactory    mode  <•' 
accounting    for    the    death    of    his    patients.      The    consequence    was    that 
much   time  and   some   talent   were   wasted   in   talking  and  writing  aga 
contractors  and   lake   water,   which   might   have  been   better   employed   in 


720  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

rendering  the  soldier  comfortable,  and  protecting  him  against  the  in- 
clemencies of  the  climate. 

"  For  the  fact  is,  that  neither  of  these  accusations  were  in  general 
just.  The  provisions  were  not  commonly  bad;  nor  did  experiment  show 
any  ingredients  in  ihe  water,  at  all  adequate  to  the  effect  supposed.  Nor 
was  it  true,  that  the  food  or  the  water  were  peculiarly  bad,  whenever 
and  wherever  these  complaints  prevailed  and  proved  most  fatal.  Nor  is 
it  believed,  there  is  cause  of  complaint  against  the  provisions  furnished 
at  present. 

"  It  is  moreover,  exceedingly  doubtful  whether  bad  food  alone  would 
produce  the  effects  that  have  been  ascribed  to  it.  For  in  prison  and 
on  shipboard,  where  the  numbers  are  frequently  confined  for  a  length  if 
time  to  far  worse  fare  than  is  even  pretended  in  these  cases,  complaints 
of  this  nature  are  by  no  means  the  general  consequence ;  while  many  a 
prisoner  and  slave  condemned  to  the  hardest  labour,  have  proved  by 
experience  how  very  soon  the  digestive  organs  will  become  accustomed 
to  food  of  a  much  worse  quality  than  contractors  would  dare  to  issue, 
or  the  soldier's  senses  permit  him  to  receive ;  and  that  even  the  deleterious 
effects  upon  the  constitution  were  very  gradual,  though  aided  by  many 
contingents  to  which  the  soldier,  in  this  country  at  least,  is  seldom 
exposed. 

"  It  is  by  no  means  intended  to  assert,  that  bad  food  or  coarse  food 
badly  cooked  would  not  produce  disease ;  much  less  that  it  would  not 
peculiarly  aggravate  complaints  of  the  stomach  and  bowels,  or  even  act 
as  an  exciting  cause  of  them.  But  it  is  meant  to  say,  that  this  alone 
does  not  necessarily  or  even  generally  produce  such  complaints ; — that  the 
food  of  the  soldier  was  not  during  the  war,  and  certainly  is  not  now,  of 
a  quality  calculated  to  produce  them  ; — that  the  prevalence  of  these  com- 
plaints at  any  particular  time  bore  no  proportion  to  the  good  or  bad 
quality  of  the  provision  ;  nor  were  those  places,  where  they  were  almost 
always  committing  ravages,  worse  supplied  in  this  respect,  than  any  other 
and  therefore — that  we  arc  to  look  to  some  other  cause  for  the  produc- 
tion of  these   military   plagues. 

"  And  this  it  is  apprehended  will  be  found  to  arise  from  an  undue 
exposure  to  cold  and  moisture.  For  the  recruit  is  immediately  confined 
to  his  rations,  and  experiences  no  bad  effect  from  the  change.  It  is  not 
until  he  begins  to  feel  the  want  of  dry  and  comfortable  lodging  and 
clothing,  and  to  be  exposed  to  the  changes  of  weather  without  sufficient 
clothing  or  exercise,  that  he  suffers  from  diseases  of  the  lungs  and 
bowels.  It  is  not  a  fact  that  those  stations  which  became  famous  as  the 
graveyards  of  the  army,  were  worse  supplied  with  provisions  or  abounded 
with  worse  water  than  any  others;  while  it  is  well  known  that  at  these 
places  the  soldier  was  peculiarly  exposed  to  the  above-mentioned  noxious 
agents.     It  could  not  be  owing  to  the  state  of  the   provisions   or   water 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  721 

that  these  complaints  were  so  destructive  in  the  spring  and  fall,  rather 
than  in  the  summer  and  winter;  but  it  must  be  attributed  to  the  unwhole- 
some combination  of  cold  and  moisture  peculiar  to  the  frontier  at  these 
seasons ;  and  it  must  be  from  this  exposure  that  even  now  in  time  of 
peace,  these  complaints  continue  at  some  posts  to  occupy  so  large  a 
share  in  the  sick  reports. 

"  In  proof  of  what  is  here  advanced,  wc  need  only  to  refer  to  the  mor- 
tality at  Sackett's  Harbor  during  nearly  the  whole  war,  and  to  the  state 
of  the  army  in  that  vicinity  during  the  fall  of  1813.  In  both  cases  it 
must  have  been  the  climate — the  weather — that  produced  the  mischief ; 
as  there  is  not  the  least  ground  for  supposing  there  was  anything  pecu- 
liar^ bad  in  the  provisions  or  water  at  that  particular  time,  and  at  that 
particular  place. 

"  Besides  it  is  well  known  that  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  Norttt- 
ern  section  of  the  State,  the  greater  proportion  are  under  the  necessity 
of  guarding  themselves  by  great  attention  to  clothing  from  the  bad  effects 
of  the  climate,  in  order  to  prevent  or  remove  the  very  diseases  in  ques- 
tion; and  every  practicing  physician  depends  almost  entirely  upon  this 
circumstance  for  curing,  and  altogether  for  preventing  complaints  of  this 
nature. 

"  In  confirmation  of  what  has  been  advanced  it  may  also  be  added, 
that  the  only  medicines  which  have  any  permanent  effect  upon  these  com- 
plaints are  those  which  act  upon  the  pores  of  the  skin ;  and  thus  in 
some  measure  counteract  the  effects  of  cold  and  moisture ;  and  these 
require  every  assistance  from  warm  bathing,  warm  clothing,  lodging,  etc. ; 
simply  cleansing  the  stomach  and  bowels  does  very  little  towards  remov- 
ing the  complaints  when  fully  formed.  A  coarse  diet  indeed  is  injurious, 
but  it  is  in  consequence  of  debility  induced  by  the  disease  itself.  It 
aggravates  but  docs  not  produce  it;  and  of  course  change  of  diet  will 
not  cure  it.  And  even  in  the  state  of  convalescence,  it  is  very  common 
after  a  cold  and  rainy  night  when  the  sick  are  in  tents,  to  find  several 
who  appeared  fast  recovering  dead  within  twenty-four  hours;  and  some 
even  before  the  morning  visit  of  the  surgeon.  And  this  was  in  a  greater 
or  less  degree  so  constantly  the  consequence  on  the  whole  of  this 
frontier,  that  after  a  stormy  night,  the  attending  surgeon  could  calculate 
very  certainly  upon  finding  some  dead,  and  many  very  much  reduced. 

"  If  then  we  are  to  attribute  not  only  the  great  waste  of  life  during 
the  war,  but  the  majority  of  the  complaints  at  present  to  the  want  of 
adequate  means  of  guarding  against  the  effects  of  climate,  it  ought  most 
certainly  to  be  represented  to  those  whose  province  it  is.  to  make  such 
alterations  and  additions  to  the  allowance  of  clothing  as  will  be  con- 
sistant  with  true  economy,  by  being  best  calculated  to  remedy  the  evil. 
To  this  end  no  soldier  in  this  Division,  at  least  none  north  of  Phila- 
delphia, should  be  allowed   to  wear  any   other   than   a  woolen   shirt.     This 


722  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

point  has  been  often  insisted  on  by  the  surgeons  of  the  army ;  and  5n 
confirmation  of  it,  we  need  only  refer  to  the  number  of  those  enjoying 
every  comfort,  who  find  it  necessary  in  order  to  avoid  complaints  of  the 
lungs  and  bowels,  not  only  to  wear  flannel  next  the  skin,  but  to  follow 
the  advice  of  Doctor  Franklin  in  not  taking  it  off  until  mid-summer  and 
putting  it  on  again  the  next  day.  A  second  article  equally  necessary  to 
the  end  proposed  is  an  outer  coat.  Indeed  there  are  few  citizens  of 
any  grade  in  this  climate,  who  do  not  feel  the  necessity  of  this,  and  who 
do  not  at  any  rate  provide  for  it  or  a  substitute,  though  most  generally 
comfortably  housed  at  those  times  when  the  soldier  is  most  exposed.  And 
lastly  the  most  important  circumstance  perhaps  of  all  is  to  enable  the 
soldier  to  keep  his  feet  warm  and  dry  by  a  liberal  allowance  of  woolen 
socks  and  laced  shoes,  reaching  at  least  to  the  ankle.  Almost  every  one 
has  at  times  felt  the  uncomfortable  consequences  of  wet  and  cold  long 
applied  to  the  feet,  and  many  know  but  too  well  their  deleterious  effects 
upon  the  constitution  through  the  lungs  anti  bowels ;  so  that  it  is  scarcely 
necessary  to  insist  upon  this  point.  In  fact  there  can  be  little  doubt  that 
due  attention  to  these  things,  and  to  such  circumstances  of  the  soldiers 
quarters  as  may  tend  to  the  same  end,  would  materially  lessen  the  num- 
ber of  sick  at  present,  and  be  of  most  essential  benefit  in  the  event  of 
war.  It  is  well  known  how  much  attention  was  bestowed  upon  this  sub- 
ject by  the  British  upon  this  frontier;  so  that  their  soldiers  were  even 
supplied  with  fur  caps  and  socks  and  gloves  in  addition  to  the  articles 
above  recommended ;  and  the  consequence  was  that  the  complaints 
which  destroyed  the  greater  part  of  our  army  were  scarcely  known  among 
them,  though  they  were  often  near  neighbors  for  months. 

'  The  cases  of  rheumatism  are  few,  for  the  troops  are  mostly  young 
and  healthy  men ;  and  this  is  a  mode  of  inflammation  which  generally 
attacks  those  of  debilitated  constitution,  or  who  are  somewhat  advanced 
in  life.  Tt  renders  many  unfit  for  service,  who  but  for  this  would  be 
efficient  men,  and  was  at  times  very  troublesome  during  the  war.  Very 
few  if  any  diseases  require  greater  attention  to  comfortable  clothing 
and  lodging  than  this;  they  are  the  ground  requisites  for  preventing 
the  complaint  in  those  predisposed  to  it,  and  absolutely  necessary  to 
removing  it  when  induced.  The  cases  of  intermittent  fever  have  not  been 
numerous  except  in  the  5th  Department  and  particularly  at  Detroit.  This 
complaint  always  prevails  more  or  less  among  the  troops ;  and  though  it 
depends  altogether  upon  local  causes  for  its  origin,  much  may  be  done  to 
lessen  the  susceptibility  of  the  system  to  it;  and  therefore  wherever 
it  occurs  it  becomes  fully  as  important  a  part  of  the  surgeon's  duty  to 
explain  and  recommend  the  means  of  preventing  it,  as  to  administer  the 
remedies  calculated  to  cure  it.  The  whole  number  of  cases  reported  is 
164 ;  of  these  141  were  in  the  5th  Department,  and  120  at  Detroit.  How 
far    this   prevalence    of   the    complaint    is    to    be    attributed    to    the    effect 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  723 

of  climate,  and  how  far  to  accidental  or  predisposing  causes ;  or  whether 
the  last  year  has  been  in  this  respect  peculiarly  unhealthy,  can  of  course 
be  known  only  by  the  inquiries,  observations  and  reports  of  the  sur- 
geons stationed  there.  But  it  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  one  of  the 
most  important  duties  of  an  army  surgeon,  that  of  investigating  the 
causes  of  diseases  at  the  different  posts  in  order  to  remove  them  when 
possible,  or  obviate  their  noxious  effects  when  practicable,  should  not 
be  required  by  our  regulations ;  and  of  course  not  attended  to  by  the 
surgeon.  Nor  has  the  order  requiring  every  surgeon  to  keep  a  record 
of  the  cases  under  his  care  been  attended  to  as  its  importance  demands. 
A  strict  attention  to  these  points  would  not  only  be  of  the  greatest 
benelit  in  preventing  disease,  but  necessarily  render  the  surgeon  better 
acquainted  with  the  nature  of  the  complaints  that  occur,  and  at  the  same 
time  ensure  a  degree  of  industry  and  attention  to  duty  which  is  sus- 
pected to  be  much  required. 

"  As  connected  with  this  subject  may  be  also  mentioned  the  want  of  i 
proper  system  of  Medical  Police,  and  of  due  attention  to  existing  regula- 
tions in  relation  to  it.  This  is  one  of  the  most  important  duties  of  the 
Medical  Staff,  is  most  carefully  attended  to  in  other  services;  and  can 
only  be  introduced  into  ours  by  long  practice.  Like  many  minute  duties 
of  officers  of  the  line,  particularly  those  connected  with  police  and  the 
interior  economy  of  a  camp,  they  are  only  to  be  gradually  acquired: 
and  so  incorporated  into  the  regular  routine  of  duty  as  to  be  considered 
as  indespensable  as  the  mere  prescription  of  medicine.  An  officer  of  the 
line  may  soon  learn  the  duties  of  the  field,  and  a  surgeon  be  amply  quali- 
fied for  his  profession,  and  both  of  them  be  worse  than  useless  to  an 
army.  It  is  from  a  knowledge  of  minutiae  which  depend  neither  upon 
General  Regulations,  nor  specific  orders,  that  the  experienced  officer 
and  surgeon  becomes  so  much  superior  to  the  undisciplined  recruit.  It 
is  almost  entirely  in  order  to  acquire  this  kind  of  knowledge,  that  a 
military  establishment  is  kept  up  in  time  of  peace,  and  it  is  an  undoubted 
fact  that  in  no  department  of  the  army  is  it  so  slowly  acquired  and 
therefore  so  deficient  as  the  medical.  How  severely  this  was  felt  during 
a  great  part  of  the  last  war  is  too  well  and  too  publickly  known  to  need 
comment. 

"  It  is  therefore  suggested  whether  such  alterations  be  not  required 
in  the  regulations,  as  are  calculated  to  produce  a  system  of  medical 
police,  which  will  not  only  ensure  attention  to  every  point  of  duty  at 
present,  but  also  in  case  of  war  enable  the  newly  appointed  surgeon  to 
learn  what  he  ought  to  do,  without  the  necessity  of  trusting  to  his  own 
ingenuity  and  suggestions;  and  after  all  his  industry  finding  himself 
disbanded  just  as  he  begins  to  understand  the  most  important  duties  of 
his  station.  Not  to  mention  the  many  serious  disadvantages  of  bdng 
obliged  to  allow  each  to  adopt  his  own  imperfect  system  ;    or  the  waste 


724  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

of  time  and  men  and  money  while  he  is  making  his  experiments.  For 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  where  one  man  has  died  from  improper 
medical  treatment,  ten  have  been  destroyed  from  want  of  a  knowledge 
of  the  many  duties  peculiar  to  an  army  surgeon. 

"  To  effect  this  purpose  it  should  be  made  the  duty  of  every  surgeon 
and  mate  having  the  charge  of  a  hospital,  together  with  his  quarterly 
report  to  the  head-quarters  of  the  division,  to  transmit  an  account  of  the 
local  situation  of  his  station,  of  the  climate,  the  diseases  most  prevalent 
in  the  vicinity,  and  their  probable  causes,  the  state  of  the  weather  during 
the  time  reported  with  respect  to  temperature ;  wind,  rain,  etc. ;  to 
state  at  large  the  general  symptoms  of  the  complaints  among  the  troops, 
as  well  as  every  peculiarity  of  disease;  to  investigate  and  as  far  as 
possible  report  their  causes;  the  means  employed  to  obviate  them  with 
the  success ;    as  well  as  the  practice  adopted  and  the  result. 

"  To  this  end  he  should  not  only  keep  a  prescription  book  containing 
a  daily  account  of  the  symptoms  and  circumstances  of  each  patient  in 
every  important  case;  ihe  medicines  prescribed  and  the  result  of  his 
practice;  but  also  one  in  which  should  be  stated  everything  directed  to 
the  diet  and  regimen  ;  as  the  quality  and  quantity  of  food  allowed,  the 
mode  in  which  it  is  prepared,  etc.  By  the  former  the  mate  or  apothecary 
should  prepare  the  medicines ;  and  it  would  also  be  a  correct  voucher  for 
their  proper  expenditure;  and  by  the  latter  the  steward  deliver  the  allow- 
ance of  hospital  store,  etc. ;  and  this  would  be  a  voucher  for  what  he  had 
expended.  The  surgeon  should  also  keep  a  diary  of  the  weather ;  noting 
in  it  whatever  may  be  supposed  to  produce  or  vary  the  forms  of  disease. 
By  a  reference  to  these,  the  surgeon  in  his  quarterly  reports,  instead  of 
a  mere  list  of  names  usually  made  out  by  the  steward,  would  be  enabled 
to  give  such  an  account  of  the  diseases  that  had  occurred,  their  causes 
and  hi-:  treatment,  as  would  be  the  best  possible  criterion  not  only  of 
his  medical  abilities,  but  also  of  his  industry  and  attention  to  duty.  And 
besides  this,  an  abstract  of  these  reports  would  soon  enable  the  surgeon 
at  head-quarters  to  furnish  what  is  much  wanted  at  present,  and  what 
can  only  be  effectually  supplied  in  this  way,  viz. :  a  system  of  med- 
ical police  and  army  practice  suited  to  the  deseases  incident  to  the 
troops  at  the  several  posts  in  the  division ;  and  at  the  same  time  of 
suggesting  such  means  of  preventing  these  complaints  as  the  experience 
of  the  different  surgeons  may  have  found  most  beneficial,  under  different 
circumstances  of  time  and  place.  It  is  in  this  way  that  the  most  useful 
practical    works  have   been   produced. 

"  In  order  to  insure  attention  to  these  things  and  also  to  the  manner 
in  which  the  inferior  but  not  less  important  offices  of  the  hospital  are 
performed,  it  is  also  proposed  that  the  surgeon  attached  to  the  head- 
quarters of  the  division  be  made  '  Inspector  of  Hospitals.'  It  has  long 
been  observed  that  none  but  one  of  the  medical  staff  can  be  competent 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  725 

to  this  duty.  The  Inspector  General  and  commanding  officer  can  only 
determine  whether  the  hospital  and  its  furniture  appear  neat  and  clean, 
and  the  surgeon  make  his  regular  visits.  But  in  every  thing  relating 
to  the  duties  peculiar  to  his  station,  the  surgeon  is  at  present  left  entirely 
to  his  own  sense  of  propriety.  He  is  the  only  officer  who  is  not  in 
some  way  or  other  responsible  for  the  mode  in  which  his  various  duties 
are  performed,  and  strictly  accountable  for  the  public  property  entrusted 
to.  his  care.  To  this  cause  is  no  doubt  to  be  attributed  the  many  com- 
plaints continually,  and  too  often  justly,  made  against  the  medical 
department,  particularly  in  active  service,  both  on  account  of  neglect  of 
duty   and  waste  of  property. 

'  In  addition  therefore  to  the  duties  assigned  a  Medical  Director,  the 
surgeon  attached  to  the  head-quarters  of  a  division  should  be  authorized 
to  call  for  and  receive  from  the  respective  surgeons  and  mates  such 
returns  and  reports  relative  to  the  situation,  climate,  weather,  etc.,  at  the 
different  posts,  as  may  be  calculated  to  ascertain  the  causes  of  disease, 
and  the  best  practical  means  of  preventing  it.  And  also  such  an  account 
of  the  symptoms  in  every  important  case,  the  remedies  prescribed,  and 
regimen  observed  as  may  be  requisite  to  elucidate  the  nature  of  the 
prevailing  complaints,  and  the  most  efficient  mode  of  treating  them. 

"He  should  consolidate  the  quarterly  reports;  and  make  such  remarks 
and  suggest  such  improvements  both  in  practice  and  police,  as  may  appear 
to  be  required  for  the  benefit  and  comfort  of  the  sick.  He  should  from 
time  to  time  inspect  the  hospital;  examine  the  books  and  accounts  of 
the  steward  and  zuardmaster;  enquire  into  the  manner  in  which  every 
duty  is  performed ;  and  see  that  all  the  regulations,  both  professional  and 
those  relating  to  police  are  properly  attended  to ;  by  a  strict  examina- 
tion of  the  prescription  book,  judge  of  the  medical  abilities  of  the  attend- 
ing surgeon,  and  ascertain  that  there  has  been  a  proper  expenditure  of 
medicine;  from  the  diet  book  which  should  contain  the  quantity  and 
quality  of  the  food  and  liquor  daily  allowed  to  each  patient,  see  that 
there  has  been  a  proper  application  of  the  hospital  stores;  and  make 
such  communications  to  the  Apothecary  General  on  the  subject  as  may 
appear  necessary  and  proper.  And  finally  from  his  own  observations, 
and  from  the  reports  and  the  accompanying  remarks  of  the  surgeon, 
to  form  a  manual  of  medical  police  and  practice  suited  to  the  circum- 
stances of  the  soldier;  and  to  make  such  reports  to  the  commanding 
general  of  the  medical  abilities,  industry,  fidelity,  etc.,  of  the  respect ive 
surgeons,  as  his  information  from  all  these  sources  might  warrant. 

"  Were  some  plan  of  this  nature  adopted,  and  the  above-mentioned 
duties  faithfully  attended  to,  it  is  believed  the  good  effects  would  soon 
be  apparent ;    and  that  they  would  be  as  permanent  as  they  were  obvious, 

"Joseph  Lovell, 
"Hospital  Surgeon.   U.  S.  Army.' 


726  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Congress  spent  a  great  part  of  the  session  of  18 17-18  in 
discussing  the  provisions  of  a  Bill  for  regulating  the  General 
Staff  of  the  Army.  This  bill  was  passed  finally,  May  14,  18 18. 
Section  II  reads  "And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  there  shall 
be  one  Surgeon  General  with  a  salary  of  two  thousand  five 
hundred  dollars  per  annum,  one  assistant  surgeon  general  with 
the  emoluments  of  a  hospital  surgeon  *  *  *  and  that  the 
number  of  post  surgeons  be  increased  not  to  exceed  eight 
to  each  division." 

For  the  position  of  Surgeon  General  thus  created,  Joseph 
Lovell  was  selected,  his  appointment  being  dated  April  18th, 
1 8 18.  He  was  not  then  thirty  years  old,  but  "the  ability  he 
had  shown  in  charge  of  the  general  hospital  at  Burlington, 
and  when  serving  with  Generals  Scott  and  Brown  on  the 
northern  frontier,  and  his  appreciation  of  the  wants  of  the 
army,  evinced  by  his  able  reports  on  various  subjects  con- 
nected therewith,  designated  him  as  the  fittest  person  to  as- 
sume the  organization  of  the  new  department,  and  his  appoint- 
ment gave  great  satisfaction  both  to  the  army  at  large  and  to 
the  Medical  Staff."*  Surgeon  General  Lovell  immediately 
set  about  his  work,  and  the  following  order  was  issued  by  the 

War  Department : 

"Adjutant  and  Inspector  General's  Office, 
"General  Orders.  APril   21,    1818. 

"  All  reports,  returns  and  communications  connected  with  the  Medical 
Department  will  hereafter  be  made  to  the  Surgeon  General's  Office  at 
Washington. 

"  All  orders  and  instructions  relative  to  the  duties  of  the  several 
officers  of  the  Medical  Staff,  will  be  issued  through  the  Surgeon  General, 
who   will   be   obeyed   and    respected   accordingly. 

"  The  Assistant  Surgeons  General  will  forthwith  commence  the  inspec- 
tion of  the  Medical  Department  in  their  respective  divisions  agreeable  to 
the  instructions  they  may  receive  from  the  Surgeon  General. 

"By  order  "  D.   Parker 

"Adjutant  and  Inspector  General." 

*"The  Medical  Department  of  the  United  States  Army,"  1775-1873. 
by  Harvey   E.   Brown,  Assistant   Surgeon,   U.    S.   Army. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  727 

The  revision  of  the  Medical  Regulations  was  the  first  sub- 
ject undertaken  by  the  new  Surgeon  General.  In  carrying 
out  this  revision,  Lovell  determined  to  incorporate  the  views 
expressed  in  his  letter  to  General  Jacob  Brown.  These  regu- 
lations have  since  served  as  the  model  for  all  changes  made 
in  our  army  regulations.  The  system  of  placing  responsibility 
upon  the  individual  surgeon  for  the  property  of  the  govern- 
ment intrusted  to  his  care  was  the  principal  reason  for  the 
reduction  of  the  per  capita  appropriation  from  $7  per  annum 
to  $3  for  each  man  in  the  service. 

In  1818  Lovell  made  a  report  to  Congress,  and  in  it  he 
urged  many  recommendations  for  the  further  improvement 
of  the  Medical  Department.  This  he  did  at  the  request  of 
J.  C.  Calhoun,  then  Secretary  of  War.  In  consequence  of 
further  urging  by  Lovell,  Congress  passed  an  Act,  May  8th, 
1820,  in  which  the  Apothecary  General  and  his  assistant  were 
required  to  give  bonds  to  the  United  States  for  the  faithful 
performance  of  their  duties.  These  duties  had  in  part  been 
performed  by  the  Commissary  General  of  Purchases,  and  had 
been  the  object  of  severe  criticism. 

An  Act  of  Congress  reducing  the  size  of  the  army  was 
passed  March  2,  182 1.  In  the  reorganization  which  ensued, 
the  Medical  Department  fared  badly.  Lovell  made  many 
efforts  to  raise  the  medical  standard  by  instituting  examina- 
tions for  all  applicants  for  appointments  as  assistant  surgeons. 
He  also  tried  to  have  the  emoluments  for  the  different  grades 
increased  and  graduated.  Nothing  resulted  from  these  efforts 
until  June,  1834,  when  a  bill  "Increasing  and  regulating  the 
pay  of  the  Surgeons  and  Assistant  Surgeons  of  the  Army" 
was  passed.  The  correction  of  the  abuses  and  deficiencies  in 
the  old  organization  was  necessarily  slow,  but  Lovell  kept 
memorializing  the  Congress,  and  his  quarterly  reports  never 
failed  to  express  strongly  the  necessity  for  further  changes. 
The  medical   officers  found   in  him  a   sincere  and   persistent 


728  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

advocate  of  justice  in  the  increased  duties  which  the  changing 
conditions  brought  with  them.  In  the  discussion  in  Congress, 
during  1829  and  1830,  upon  the  reduction  of  expenses  of  the 
army,  Lovell  not  only  protested  against  any  reduction  of  the 
number  of  medical  officers,  but  advocated  an  increase  in  their 
number.     Here  is  his  letter  upon  the  subject : 

"  Surgeon  General's  Office, 
"  Hon.  J.  H.  Eaton,  9   January,    1830. 

"  Secretary  of  War  : 
"Sir:  In  reply  to  your  letter  of  the  seventh  inst.,  enclosing  the  copy  of 
a  resolution  of  the  Committee  on  Retrenchments,  I  beg  leave  to  state  that 
any  reduction  of  the  number  or  compensation  of  the  surgeons  and 
assistant  surgeons  of  the  army  is  deemed  inexpedient,  as  the  necessity 
of  an  increase  of  their  number,  and  the  equity  of  an  increase  of  their 
compensation,  has  been  fully  stated  in  reports  heretofore  made  to  the 
Department ;  and  it  is  understood  that  a  bill  for  these  purposes  has 
been   recently   reported   to  the  House  of  Representatives.     .      .      .  " 

Six  months  later  Lovell  sent  a  second  communication  to 
the  Secretary  of  War,  showing  "that  notwithstanding  a  very 
considerable  increase  in  the  number  of  military  posts  and  sta- 
tions, the  number  of  medical  officers  is  less  than  it  has  been 
at  any  period  within  the  last  ten  years."  A  long  investiga- 
tion resulted  in  the  Secretary  of  War  reporting  that  'The 
Surgeon  General  of  the  Army  might  be  dispensed  with,"  and 
making  further  recommendations,  which  Lovell  was  able  to 
demonstrate  in  a  rejoinder  were  all  founded  upon  wrong  in- 
formation or  upon  inaccurate  data.  As  a  result  of  this  state- 
ment by  Lovell,  the  Military  Committee  of  the  House  decided 
that  the  circumstances  demanded  an  increase  rather  than  a 
reduction  of  the  Medical  Staff.  This  resulted  in  the  passage, 
June  28th,  1832,  of  an  Act,  "That  the  President  be,  and  he 
is  hereby  authorized  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of 
the  Senate,  to  appoint  four  additional  surgeons  and  ten  addi- 
tional surgeon's  mates  in  the  army  of  the  United  States." 

In  the  Black  Hawk  war,  or  "Cholera  campaign,"  as  that 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  729 

affair  came  to  be  called,  the  demand  for  surgeons  proved  the 
wisdom  of  Lovell's  course,  and  in  response  to  his  appeal  Con- 
gress passed  an  Act  (July  4th,  1836)  adding  three  surgeons 
and  five  assistant  surgeons  to  the  roster  of  the  Medical  Staff 
of  the  Army. 

One  of  the  last  official  acts  of  Surgeon  General  Lovell  was 
to  submit  a  report  on  June  4th,  1836,  in  which  he  pointed  out 
the  necessity  for  an  increase  in  the  Medical  Corps.  The  ex- 
acting duties  of  his  office  had  already  affected  seriously  his 
constitution,  and  he  survived  the  death  of  his  wife  but  a  short 
time.  He  died  October  17th,  1836.  The  "National  Intelli- 
gencer" of  Washington  said  of  him :  "It  rarely  falls  to  our 
lot  to  record  the  death  of  one  whose  loss  to  the  community 
and  the  profession,  both  military  and  civil,  of  which  he  was 
a  distinguished  member,  is  so  deeply  and  widely  spread  as  the 
untimely  exit  of  Doctor  Joseph  Lovell,  late  Surgeon  General 
of  the  Army."  Brown  says  of  him :  "The  greatness  of  the 
loss  to  the  army,  and  especially  to  the  corps  which  he  may 
almost  be  said  to  have  brought  into  being,  can  hardly  be  exag- 
gerated. Throughout  his  official  career  he  had  gained  the 
universal  respect,  admiration  and  affection  of  all  with  whom 
he  was  associated.  His  predominant  characteristics  were  a 
strong  sense  of  the  dignity  of  his  position  and  of  the  profes- 
sion to  which  he  belonged,  and  a  gentleness  of  demeanor  in 
all  his  relations  both  official  and  personal  with  the  subordi- 
nate officers  of  the  Medical  Staff.  *  *  *  In  his  corre- 
spondence with  the  officers  of  his  Department,  no  one  could 
be  more  gentle  and  even  tender ;  *  *  *  his  good  service 
extended  to  every  branch  and  department  of  the  army.  It 
was  through  his  efforts  that  the  whiskey  ration  was  finally 
abolished ;  by  his  representations  that  Congress  passed  the 
bill  by  which  obnoxious  officers  were  weeded  out  through  the 
agency  of  a  board  of  examination;  that  the  rations  and  the 
clothing  of  the  soldiers  were  improved,  post  hospitals  built  on 


730  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

a  rational  principle,  and  officers  held  to  a  strict  accountability 
for  their  treatment  of  the  sick  and  the  expenditure  of  supplies. 
In  all  his  relations,  whether  as  Christian  philanthropist,  pro- 
found scholar,  skilful  surgeon,  experienced  officer  or  true- 
hearted  gentleman,  he  was  one  of  whom  the  Medical  Staff 
may  always  be  proud  and  the  memory  of  whose  good  life  is 
written  on  every  page  of  its  history." 

In  1842  the  officers  of  the  Medical  Corps  testified  their 
appreciation  of  his  services  by  the  erection  of  a  handsome 
monument  over  his  grave  in  the  Congressional  Cemetery  at 
Washington. 

WALTER  CHANNING. 

Walter  Channing  was  born  in  Newport,  Rhode  Island. 
April  15th,  1786.  He  was  a  brother  of  the  famous  William 
Ellery  Channing,  and  of  Professor  Edward  T.  Channing.* 

Walter  Channing  entered  Harvard  College  in  1804.  Dur- 
ing his  junior  year  he  was  concerned  in  the  Students'  Rebel- 
lion, and  had  to  leave  college.  He  received  his  A.  B.  in  1867. 
He  studied  medicine  in  Boston,  Philadelphia,  Edinburgh  and 
London;  and  in  the  last  two  places  paid  special  attention  to 
Obstetrics.  His  M.  D.  (ad  eun.)  was  received  from  Harvard 
in  1812.  Fie  was  M.  D.  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania 
in  1809.  Upon  bis  return  to  this  country,  Channing  began 
the  practice  of  medicine  in  Boston.  This  was  in  1812.  and 
on  May  loth,  1815,  he  was  elected  Lecturer  in  Midwifery, 
entering  the  Medical  Faculty  with  Jacob  Bigelow,  at  the  same 
meeting  at  which  John  C.  Warren  was  appointed  to  succeed 
his  father  as  Professor  of  Anatomy  and  Surgery.  Chan- 
ning's  lectureship  was  made  a  full  Professorship  of  Obstetrics 


*  William  Ellery  Channing,  A.  B.,  1798,  A.  M.,  1802;  S.  T.  D.,  1820. 
Fellow,  Dexter  Lecturer. 

Edward  T.  Channing,  LL.  D.,  1847 ;  Boylston  Professor  Rhetoric  and 
Elocution,   Harvard,   1S10-1851. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  731 

and  Medical  Jurisprudence  three  years  later,  and  was  held  by 
him  until  1854.  He  was  Dean  of  the  Medical  School  from 
1819  to  1847.  In  1821  he  became  assistant  to  James  Jackson 
as  visiting  physician  to  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital. 
He  served  twenty  years  on  the  staff  of  that  hospital.  When 
the  Boston  Lying-in  Hospital  was  founded  (1832)  Channing, 
with  Storer  and  Charles  G.  Putnam,  were  the  physicians  to 
whom  its  care  was  entrusted. 

When  Channing  entered  practice,  midwifery  was  in  a  low 
state  of  development  compared  with  what  we  now  see  it,  but 
he  had  the  best  knowledge  then  obtainable  abroad,  and  so 
became  very  valuable  to  American  obstetrics.  On  account 
of  his  special  training,  as  well  as  from  his  personal  charm,  he 
was  soon  a  great  favorite  both  professionally  and  socially. 
He  had  a  mind  brilliant,  apt,  forceful  and  discursive.  This 
last  quality  was  a  not  infrequent  cause  of  an  underestimation 
of  his  power  of  concentration.  New  things  appealed  forcibly 
to  him.  He  was  a  true  Bostonian :  one  of  those  men  for  whom 
some  have  called  Boston  the  "  Modern  Athens." 

Channing  had  a  native  wit  which  added  to  his  success  as  a 
teacher.  He  was  extremely  popular  with  younger  physicians, 
to  whom  he  was  always  loyal  and  helpful.  In  public  affairs 
he  was  active,  and  there  were  few  local  movements  of  philan- 
thropy, of  reform,  and  of  educational  and  social  progress  in- 
augurated during  his  active  life  that  do  not  bear  witness  to 
his  zeal  and  enthusiasm.  His  best  known  publications  were 
"Etherization  in  Childbirth,"  "Reform  in  Medical  Science," 
and  his  addresses  on  "Prevention  of  Pauperism,"  and  on  the 
necessity  for  introducing  pure  water  into  Boston. 

When  the  "New  England  Medical  Journal"  was  started, 
Channing  was  one  of  its  supporters.  He  was  one  of  the  com- 
mittee of  five  (Jackson,  Channing,  Bigelow,  Gorham  and 
Warren)  who  collected  and  edited  the  various  articles.  This 
publication  was  a  great  aid  to  the  medical  school,  as  well  as 


732  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

a  valuable  vehicle  for  the  conveyance  of  medical  knowledge 
to  the  profession.  The  editorship  finally  passed  into  the  hands 
of  Channing  and  John  Ware.  These  two  were  its  sole  editors 
at  the  time  of  its  expansion  (1828)  into  the  "Boston  Medical 
and  Surgical  Journal/'  Channing  furnished  the  reports  of 
medical  cases  at  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital  and  at 
the  Boston  Lying-in  Hospital.  In  the  Massachusetts  Medical 
Society,  Channing  was  Librarian  from  1822  to  1825,  and 
Treasurer  1828-1840.  He  gave  the  address  of  1833,  his  sub- 
ject being  "Irritable  Uterus.''  He  also  read  an  article  on 
"Cases  of  inflammation  of  the  veins  with  remarks  on  the  sup- 
posed identity  of  phlebitis  and  phlegmasia  dolens,"  before  the 
Society.  He  was  a  member  of  the  American  Academy  of 
Arts  and  Sciences.  He  died  in  Brookline,  Massachusetts,  July 
27th,  1876,  at  the  age  of  ninety. 


JOHN  WARE. 

John  Ware  was  born  at  Hingham,  Massachusetts,  Decem- 
ber 18,  1795.  His  father  was  a  minister  there,  and  afterwards 
Hollis  Professor  of  Theology  at  Harvard.  John  Ware  en- 
tered Harvard  when  barely  thirteen  years  old,  and  was  gradu- 
ated A.  B.  in  1813.  He  began  the  study  of  medicine  with 
John  Gorham,  and  had  as  a  fellow  student  John  Homans 
(A.  B.  1812).  Ware  took  his  medical  degree  also  at  Har- 
vard in  18 1 6,  and  immediately  entered  upon  practice  at  Dux- 
bury,  Massachusetts.  Later  he  moved  to  Boston,  where  he 
practiced  until  his  death.  When  James  Jackson  asked  the 
Corporation  to  give  him  an  assistant  in  his  duties  as  Hersey 
Professor  of  Theory  and  Practice  of  Physic,  they  established 
the  position  of  Adjunct  Professor  in  his  department,  and 
elected  Ware  to  it,  January  19,  1832.  Upon  the  resignation 
of  Jackson  in  1836,  Ware  was  elected  (June  16,  1836)  to  the 
professorship.    He  held  it  until  July  31,  1858. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  733 

During  this  stewardship,  Ware  won  the  love,  confidence 
and  esteem  of  the  community.  Beginning  life  under  hard 
circumstances,  and  forced  for  many  years  to  struggle  for  a 
start,  he  finally  succeeded  in  building  up  a  great  reputation 
and  a  great  practice.  He  became  a  writer  and  a  teacher,  and 
was  a  laborious  practitioner.  In  1828  he  became  editor  of 
the  "Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,"  and  for  some 
time,  with  Channing,  conducted  the  journal.  Both  men  had 
previously  been  associated  with  Warren,  Gorham,  Bigelow, 
Jackson,  and  Hayward  in  the  "New  England  Medical  Jour- 
nal," and  it  was  this  connection  no  doubt  which  led  to  his 
selection  as  Jackson's  assistant  and  successor  in  the  Medical 
School.  Ware's  connection  with  the  founding  of  the  "Boston 
Medical  and  Surgical  Journal"  is  told  by  himself: 

"  In  1824  the  editorship  of  the  '  New  England  Journal  '  passed  into 
the  Hands  of  Dr.  Channing  and  myself.  The  subscription  was  small, 
and  the  work  hardly  paid  its  way.  We  thought  of  giving  it  up  in  1827, 
but  the  plan  was  then  suggested  of  uniting  its  list  with  the  '  Medical 
Intelligencer,'  then  conducted  by  Dr.  John  G.  Coffin.  Dr.  John  C.  War- 
ren united  with  us  in  purchasing  that  journal;  and  the  'Boston  Medical 
and  Surgical  Journal '  was  begun  under  our  joint  charge.  I  forget 
how  long  we  continued  it,  but  we  found  it  not  only  laborious,  but  a 
losing  concern,  and  we  disposed  of  the  whole  to  Mr.  Cotton.  I  could 
not  at  the  time  assume  any  pecuniary  risk,  and  Dr.  Warren  accord- 
ingly took  two-thirds  of  it ;  and,  as  an  offset,  I  performed  the  quarter 
part  of  his  labor  in  getting  up  the  number;  i.  e.,  of  the  mechanical  part, 
which  it  fell  to  his  share  to  edit." 

Ware's  name  is  frequently  found  as  a  contributor  in  the 
files  of  the  journal.  His  articles  on  "Croup,"  "Delirium  Tre- 
mens" and  "Hemoptysis,"  and  his  volume  on  the  "Philosophy 
of  Natural  History,"  were  his  most  important  work  besides 
his  public  lectures.  He  had  industry,  and  by  his  zeal  accumu- 
lated a  fund  of  medical  knowledge  which  he  communicated 
to  others  in  a  way  to  impress  them.  In  his  method  he  was 
given  neither  to  the  assumption  of  skill  nor  to  claims  of  infal- 
libility.    He  illustrated  impartial  reasoning,  clear  perception, 


734  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

just  inference,  and  an  honest  regard  for  the  opinions  of  others. 
He  was  frank  and  humble,  but  with  a  strong  self-reliance 
which  gave  him  great  advantage  in  his  dealings  with  patients. 
He  was  a  disciple  of  the  expectant  school :  "watch  and  guard, 
but  do  not  thwart  the  restorative  influence  inherent  in  the  un- 
molested constitution,"  was  his  constant  advice.  To  this  he 
added  the  influence  of  a  strong  personality.  Pleasant, 
amiable,  with  a  generous,  kind  word  for  all;  attentive,  never 
impatient ;  always  cheerful,  both  in  language  and  manner,  it 
is  not  surprising  to  have  his  contemporaries  say  of  him : 
"John  Ware's  name  was  in  itself  a  guarantee  of  excellence, 
but  his  personal  merits  would  have  commended  him  to  the 
confidence  of  any  community  where  he  might  have  appeared 
as  a  stranger.  Very  gentle,  very  amiable,  very  conscientious, 
his  natural  modesty  kept  him  from  challenging  public  atten- 
tion as  emphatically  as  his  ability  and  knowledge  might  have 
entitled  him  to  do." 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Corporation  of  Harvard,  August  28, 
1858,  Professor  John  Ware  resigned,  and  it  was  voted,  "that 
in  accepting  the  resignation  of  Professor  Ware  this  Board 
cannot  refrain  from  expressing  their  regret  at  the  serious  loss 
which  the  Medical  School  incurs  in  this  event."  It  was  fur- 
ther voted,  'That  the  President  in  communicating  this  vote 
to  Dr.  Ware  be  requested  to  signify  to  him  the  sense  enter- 
tained by  this  Board  of  the  great  value  of  his  services  to  the 
University  for  the  twenty-six  years  during  which  he  has  been 
connected  with  it,  resulting  as  well  from  the  soundness  of  his 
judgment  and  the  excellence  and  weight  of  his  character,  as 
from  his  learning  and  professional  eminence." 

Ware  had  been  visiting  physician  to  the  Massachusetts  Gen- 
eral Hospital  for  many  years,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Amer- 
ican Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences.  He  was  president  of 
the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  from  1848-1852,  and  de- 
livered the  annual  discourse  in  1847;  ft  was  entitled  "Condi- 


4 

£*** 

•  M 

\ 

Jtm\ 

K 

^ 

f  /-a 

i 

1    ( 

^ 

■y 

r  ^ 

Hm 

1  * 

pi 

I 

_^ 

i 

0 

K 

*? 

^Z''~ 

$<&*& 

■n 

•  1  ^'3s 

y 

JH 

•■ 

^ 

' 

H 

r 

f 

A.  B.  1826;    A.  M.;   M.  I).  1830. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  735 

tion  and  Prospects  of  the  Medical  Profession."     John  Ware 
died  in  Boston,  April  29,  1864. 

"  As  a  consulting  Physician  in  cases  of  great  responsibility  or  difficulty 
his  professional  brethren  have  so  long  enjoyed  his  wise  counsel  that 
they  hardly  know  how  to  spare  him.  He  was  endeared  to  all  by  the 
gentleness  and  kindliness  of  his  manner,  by  his  hearty  interest  in  the 
welfare  of  the  sick,  and  by  his  ever  fresh  and  ready  intelligence.  The 
profession  in  this  city  have  never  lost  one  of  its  number  who  has  filled 
up  a  larger  measure  of  honorable  devotion  to  the  highest  interests  of 
humanity." 

WILLARD  PARKER. 

Willard  Parker  was  born  at  Hillsborough,  New  Hampshire, 
September  2,  1800.  From  an  ancestry  of  English  Puritan 
stock,  Parker  inherited  a  strong  physical  constitution,  as  well 
as  sound  mental  capacity  for  the  laborious  and  useful  life  that 
lay  before  him.  When  he  was  five  years  old  his  family  moved 
to  Chelmsford  (now  Lowell)  Massachusetts,  and  there  the 
lad  worked  on  his  father's  farm  until  he  was  nineteen.  Dur- 
ing the  latter  years  of  this  period  he  taught  a  district  school 
and  so  earned  the  money  to  take  him  to  Harvard.  He  was 
graduated  A.  B.  in  1826.  It  was  the  wish  of  his  parents  and 
of  himself  that  he  should  enter  the  ministry.  However,  fate 
decided  otherwise.  The  story  reminds  one  of  Nathan  Smith's 
awakening.  While  Parker  was  in  his  freshman  year,  his 
chum  was  brought  low  by  a  strangulated  hernia,  which  the 
efforts  of  a  neighboring  physician  failed  to  reduce.  John  C. 
Warren  was  sent  for,  and  his  diagnosis,  as  well  as  the  facility 
with  which  lie  reduced  the  obstruction,  so  impressed  young 
Parker  that  he  resolved  to  devote  his  life  to  the  study  and 
practice  of  medicine.  His  first  advantage  was  in  obtaining 
(1827)  the  position  of  House  Physician  at  the  United  States 
Marine  Hospital  in  Chelsea,  Massachusetts.  There  he  served 
for  two  years  under  S.  D.  Townsend.  Later  he  was  a  pupil 
of  John  C.  Warren,  and  upon  the  creation  of  the  office  he 


736  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

was  appointed  (February  26,  1829)  house-pupil  at  the  Mas- 
sachusetts General  Hospital,  having  secured  his  medical  de- 
gree from  Harvard  meantime.  He  was  graduated  M.  D.  in 
February,  1830. 

Though  Parker  was  not  yet  thirty  years  of  age  he  had 
already  established  a  reputation  as  a  lecturer.  Accordingly, 
he  was  invited  in  the  summer  of  1829,  a  year  before  his  gradu- 
ation, to  deliver  a  course  of  lectures  on  anatomy  in  the  Med- 
ical School  at  Woodstock,  Vermont.  This  he  did  in  the  win- 
ter following,  and  was  appointed  Professor  of  Anatomy  in 
the  Vermont  Medical  College.  In  1830  he  was  also  elected 
to  the  Professorship  of  Anatomy  at  the  Berkshire  Medical 
Institution.  He  lectured  twice  daily  at  Berkshire,  and  in 
1833  the  chair  of  Surgery  was  added  to  his  previous  appoint- 
ment. In  1836  he  was  offered  the  Professorship  in  Surgery 
at  the  Cincinnati  Medical  College.  There  he  taught  for  one 
term,  and  then  went  to  Europe  for  study  in  London  and 
Paris. 

Upon  returning  to  America,  Parker  was  given  the  chair 
of  Clinical  Surgery  in  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons 
in  New  York,  where  he  worked  for  the  next  thirty  years  of 
his  life  (1839-1869).  His  work  and  his  accomplishments 
were  brilliant  and  unusual.  His  rise  in  his  profession  seemed 
instantaneous  and  complete.  He  was  immediately  recognized 
as  a  teacher  and  surgeon  of  a  high  order,  and  his  bold  opera- 
tions and  distinguished  talents  soon  placed  him  in  the  fore- 
most rank.  Pie  was  a  man  of  high  character  and  broad  public 
spirit. 

Parker's  far-seeing  mind  appreciated  early  the  deficiencies 
in  the  method  then  employed  for  teaching  surgery,  and  upon 
his  acceptance  of  the  Professorship  of  Clinical  Surgery  he  set 
about  making  better  use  of  the  opportunities  offered  in  a  large 
city.  Not  having  a  hospital  service,  he  visited  daily  with  his 
students  the  two  city  dispensaries,  and  gradually  succeeded 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  737 

in  obtaining  material  sufficient  for  demonstration  before  the 
class  at  the  Medical  College,  then  located  in  Crosby  Street. 
The  anatomical  rooms  were  utilized  for  the  teaching  of  clin- 
ical diagnosis,  and  later  for  the  performance  of  operations 
illustrating  the  cases  from  the  dispensaries.  Thus  grew  up 
a  method  of  holding  those  "Clinics''  which  are  now  a  factor 
in  medical  education.  Such  work  stamped  Parker  as  a  re- 
sourceful teacher. 

In  1845  Parker  became  associated  with.  James  R.  Wood 
in  reorganizing  the  city  Alms  House,  and  developing  it  into 
Bellevue  Hospital,  under  a  board  of  governors.  Parker  and 
Wood  were  made  the  visiting  physicians.  He  was  also 
one  of  the  founders  of  the  Academy  of  Medicine,  and  was  its 
president.  The  Health  Department  of  the  city  was  noto- 
riously inefficient,  and  this  inefficiency  the  Academy  of  Med- 
icine set  out  to  correct.  Under  Parker's  initiative  they  brought 
about  the  formation  of  a  Board  of  Health.  Long  afterwards 
a  tribute  to  its  founders  was  thus  expressed :  "This  board 
has  inspired  most  of  the  legislation  upon  hygiene,  reforming 
our  building  laws,  giving  us  improved  sewerage,  checking  the 
adulteration  of  food ;  demonstrated  the  necessity  of  pure 
water,  and  proper  ventillation  in  all  parts  of  our  dwellings ; 
it  has  fought  manfully  for  the  preservation  of  our  public 
parks,  the  lungs  of  the  city ;  it  has  stimulated  tree  planting, 
and  aided  in  beautifying  the  city  in  a  variety  of  ways." 

In  1856  Parker  was  appointed  Surgeon  to  the  New  York 
Hospital.  In  1865  he  was  appointed  successor  to  Valentine 
Mott  as  president  of  the  State  Inebriate  Asylum  at  Bingham- 
ton,  the  first  establishment  ever  founded  for  the  treatment  of 
drunkenness  as  a  disease. 

Princeton  College  conferred  upon  him  the  LL.D  in  1870, 
at  a  time  when  he  was  Consulting  Surgeon  to  the  New  York- 
Hospital,  Bellevue  Hospital,  St.  Lukes'  Hospital,  Roosevelt 
Hospital,  Mt.  Sinai  Hospital,  and  Emeritus  Professor  of  Stir- 


738  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

gery  at  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons.  In  addition, 
he  had  been  Professor  of  Anatomy  at  Geneva  College,  and 
Professor  of  Anatomy  and  Surgery  at  Colby  University. 

During  this  active  career  Parker  contributed  a  great  deal 
to  the  advancement  of  surgical  science.  He  was  the  first  to 
suggest  the  condition  which  is  known  as  "concussion  of  the 
nerves,"  as  distinguished  from  concussion  of  the  nerve  cen- 
ters— a  state  previously  mistaken  for  an  inflammation ;  he 
introduced  cystostomy  for  the  relief  of  chronic  cystitis;  he 
was  one  of  the  first  to  operate  for  appendicitis,  as  we  recog- 
nize it  to-day;  he  introduced  the  division  of  the  sphincter  of 
the  rectum  near  the  coccygeal  attachments,  and  the  widening 
of  the  denuded  surface  in  the  operation  for  repair  of  lacer- 
ated perineum.  As  a  teacher  Parker  had  a  high  reputation. 
With  a  fine  personal  presence  and  a  rare  courtesy,  he  won 
the  regard  of  his  pupils.  By  his  direct  and  lucid  manner  he 
made  each  step  of  an  operation  plain ;  and  he  constantly  im- 
pressed upon  his  students,  both  by  his  own  methods  and  by 
his  discourse  upon  the  practice  of  others,  the  value  of  sim- 
plicity and  common  sense  in  operating  and  in  general  treat- 
ment. His  countenance  was  characterized  by  a  freshness  and 
vigor  which  showed  in  his  every  action  the  possession  and 
advantages  of  a  sound  physique. 

The  Willard  Parker  Hospital  in  New  York  was  erected 
and  named  in  honor  of  this  man  who  did  so  much  for  medical 
education.     He  died  in  New  York  on  April  25,  1884. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI 

(CONTINUED) 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  741 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

EMINENT    ALUMNI    (CONTINUED). 

SAMUEL  GUDLEY  HOWE. 

Samuel  Gudley  Howe  used  to  be  called  "the  apostle  of  free- 
dom", for  he  was  a  volunteer  in  the  Greek  War  for  Independ- 
ence, where  he  served  honorably;  he  was  a  notable  member 
of  the  Massachusetts  State  Board  of  Charities,  and  he  is  best 
known  for  his  service  to  the  blind,  in  rescuing  them  from  the 
ignorance  and  pauperism  which  most  people  thought  to  be 
the  inevitable  result  of  their  infirmity.  He  gave  his  services 
to  the  feeble-minded  also ;  indeed,  his  work  for  humanity  was 
very  great,  and  doubtless  his  was  one  of  the  most  useful,  most 
romantic,  and  most  eminent  careers  among  the  many  notable 
careers  of  Harvard  graduates. 

He  was  born  November  10,  1801,  in  Boston.  His  father, 
Joseph  N.  Howe,  was  a  ship  owner,  and  a  manufacturer  of 
ropes  and  cordage,  which  he  furnished  in  large  quantities, 
mostly  on  credit,  to  the  United  States  government  during  the 
war  of  18 12.  His  mother,  a  woman  of  great  beauty,  was  a 
relative  of  the  engineer  intrusted  with  the  fortification  of 
Bunker  Hill. 

During  his  course  at  the  Boston  Latin  School  Howe  showed 
traits  of  character  which  later  years  strengthened  and  com- 
pleted. The  family  savings  having  been  very  much  reduced 
through  failure  of  the  Federal  government  to  make  good  its 
indebtedness  to  the  rope  maker,  it  was  decided  that  whichever 
one  of  the  sons  could  best  read  aloud  passages  from  the  family 
Bible  should  have  a  college  education.   This  prize  Samuel  won. 


742  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

and  entered  Brown  University  in  1818.  There  he  showed  a 
keen,  active,  speculative  mind,  and  a  great  passion  for  prac- 
tical jokes.  He  was  graduated  from  Brown  in  182 1,  the  same 
year,  be  it  noted,  that  saw  the  Turk  swept  out  of  the  Pelopon- 
nesus, and  a  Greek  state  established.  Returning  from  college 
to  Boston,  Howe  studied  medicine  with  Jacob  Bigelow,  John 
C.  Warren,  Parkman,  and  Ingalls,  and  in  1824  received  the 
M.D.  degree  from  Harvard. 

The  Revolution  in  Greece  was  now  well  advanced ;  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  European  ships  had  gathered  at  Alexandria  to 
transport  Ibrahim  Pasha  with  his  Arabs  to  do  the  work  which 
had  proved  too  much  for  the  Sultan's  own  forces.  Howe  de- 
scribed later  the  campaign  carried  on  by  the  cruel  Egyptian: 
"He  went  about  the  Morea  like  a  destroying  spirit;  and  the 
smouldering  villages,  the  blackened  and  scathed  trunks  of 
the  olive  trees,  and  the  mutilated  human  bodies  in  all  stages 
of  putrefaction,  marked  the  route  he  had  taken  from  province 
to  province." 

Howe's  impulses,  at  all  times  keen,  had  by  this  time  become 
aroused  into  active  sympathy  for  the  Hellenes  in  their  single- 
handed  struggle  against  a  wide-spread  and  powerful  bar- 
barism. The  writings  of  Byron  did  much  to  shape  into  action 
the  zeal  of  this  young  lover  of  freedom,  and  we  find  him 
forsaking  the  prospects  of  a  good  opening  in  his  own  country 
that  he  might  carry  his  skill  to  the  patriots  of  distant  Greece. 
As  one  would  suppose,  he  found  little  encouragement  among 
his  own  people.  Pie  used  to  say  that  Gilbert  Stuart,  the 
famous  painter,  was  the  only  friend  of  those  days  who  bade 
him  godspeed  on  his  errand.  Carrying  a  letter  of  introduc- 
tion from  Edward  Everett  to  a  Greek  acquaintance,  Howe 
sailed  for  the  Mediterranean  in  the  autumn  of  1824.  Land- 
ing at  Malta,  he  immediately  took  passage  for  Napoli  de 
Monembasia,  whence  he  pushed  on  to  the  headquarters  of 
the  provincial  government.     His  own  account  is  as  follows : 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  743 

"  In  the  winter  the  much-dreaded  expedition  of  Ibrahim  Pasha,  with  the 
Egyptian  army,  landed  at  Molai.  Attempts  were  made  by  the  Greek 
government  to  get  up  an  army  to  oppose  them,  and  Mavrocordato  accepted 
my  offer  to  go  with  them  as  surgeon.  The  President  and  Mavrocordato 
came  to  the  south  of  Peloponnesus  with  such  forces  as  they  could  raise. 
At  first  there  was  an  attempt  to  organize  the  army,  and  I  attempted  to 
create  hospitals  and  to  organize  ambulances  for  the  wounded.  But  after 
the  capture  of  Navarino  by  the  Turks,  everything  was  thrown  into  con- 
fusion. Mavrocordato  fled  to  Napcli.  The  dark  day  of  Greece  had 
come.  All  regular  opposition  of  the  Greeks  was  overcome.  The  Turks 
advanced  fiercely  and  rapidly  up  the  Peloponnesus.  I  joined  one  of 
the  small  guerrilla  bands  that  hung  about  the  enemy,  doing  all  the  harm 
they  could.  I  could  be  of  little  or  no  use  as  surgeon,  and  was  expected 
to  divide  my  attention  between  killing  Turks,  helping  Greeks,  and  taking 
care  of  myself.  I  was  naturally  very  handy,  active  and  tough,  and 
soon  became  equal  to  any  of  the  mountain  soldiery  in  capacity  for  en- 
durance of  fatigue,  hunger,  and  watchfulness.  I  could  carry  my  gun  and 
heavy  belt  with  yatagan  and  pistols  all  day  long,  clambering  among  the 
mountain  passes,  could  eat  sorrel  and  snails,  or  go  without  anything,  and 
at  night  lie  down  on  the  ground  with  only  my  shaggy  capot,  and  sleep 
like  a  log." 

Later,  writing  to  his  friend  Horace  Mann  he  says : 

"  I  have  been  months  without  eating  other  flesh  than  mountain  snails 
or  roasted  wasps;  weeks  without  bread,  and  days  without  a  morsel 
of  food  of  any  kind.  Woe  to  the  stray  donkey  or  goat  that  fell  within 
our  reach  then ;  they  were  quickly  slain  and  their  flesh,  cut  up  hastily 
into  little  square  bits,  was  roasting  on  our  ramrods,  or  devoured  half 
raw." 

If  romance  and  adventure  had  been  the  motive  of  Howe's 

joining  the  Greek  cause,  surely  he  had  his  share.     In  his  case, 

however,  the  motive  was  deeper — the  fight  he  had   entered 

was  the  fight  of  humanity,  which  then  and  ever  after  found 

in  him  a  devoted  friend.    An  event  connected  with  these  years 

is  described  by  Whittier  in  "The  Hero."     Here  it  is  as  Howe 

tells  it : 

"  I  was  by  chance  at  Calamata  after  escaping  from  Navarino.  when  a 
sudden  invasion  of  the  Turks  forced  everyone  to  fly  who  could  fly.  I 
never  shall  forget  the  dreadful  scene  of  confusion  and  distress,  or  my 
feelings,    as    I    galloped    through    the    town,    accompanied    by    Ernest,    a 


744  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

gallant  young  Swiss,  for  we  passed  many  poor  beings,  old  or  sick,  who 
were  unable  to  fly  on  foot,  and  who  stretched  out  their  hands  praying 
for  God's  sake  that  we  would  save  them;  but  selfishness  and  the  pressing 
danger  made  us  turn  a  deaf  ear,  and  think  only  of  saving  our  own 
lives.  We  had  left  the  town  and  were  hurrying  across  the  plain,  which 
was  occupied  with  fugitives,  when  I  beheld  a  wounded  soldier  sitting 
at  the  foot  of  an  olive  tree,  pale,  exhausted,  and  almost  fainting,  but  still 
grasping  his  long  gun  as  if  he  meant  to  have  a  last  shot  at  the  expected 
foe;  it  was  Francesco,  who  had  been  dreadfully  wounded  a  few  days 
before,  and  had  staggered  thus  far  from  the  temporary  hospital  at  Cala- 
mata,  on  hearing  the  alarm.  The  poor  fellow  cast  a  supplicating  look 
at  us  as  we  passed,  but  said  not  a  word.  That  look  cut  me  to  the  soul ; 
had  he  presented  his  gun  and  demanded  my  horse,  it  would  not  have  so 
moved  me;  I  could  not  but  turn  my  head  after  we  passed  him,  and, 
seeing  him  still  looking  after  us,  as  I  thought  reproachfully,  I  pulled 
up  my  horse,  and,  on  calculating  the  distance,  found  I  had  time  to  gain 
the  mountains;  of  course  I  turned  back,  mounted  the  poor  fellow  on 
my  beast,  and  thus  easily  reaped  the  rich  reward  of  his  gratitude." 

"  Smile  not,  fair  unbeliever, 
One   man,    at   least,    I    know, 
Who  might   wear  the  crest  of  Bayard 

Or  Sidney's  plume  of  snow. 

*  $  #  *  *  *         * 

Wouldst  know  him  now  ?     Behold  him. 
The  Cadmus  of  the  blind, 
Giving  the  dumb  lip-language, 
The  idiot  clay  a  mind."  * 

After  a  time  Howe  left  the  land  service  and  became  titular 
"surgeon-in-chief  of  the  Greek  fleet."  Here  he  was  associated 
with  George  Finlay,  the  historian  of  Greece. 

On  the  30th  of  August,  1827,  the  Grand  Vizier  declared  to 
the  ambassadors  of  England,  France  and  Russia:  "My  posi- 
tive, absolute,  definite,  unchangeable,  eternal  answer  is  that 
the  Sublime  Porte  does  not  accept  any  proposition  concerning 
the  Greeks,  and  will  persist  in  his  own  will  forever  and  for- 
ever, even  unto  the  day  of  the  last  judgment.''  Howe  knew 
what  this  meant  to  a  people  already  reduced  to  starvation,  but 


*  Whittier. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  745 

he  waited  long  enough  to  witness  the  allied  fleets  enter  the 
Bay  of  Navarino  and  in  four  hours  destroy  the  Egyptian 
armada ;  then  he  sailed  for  home  to  champion  the  Greek  cause 
before  his  countrymen,  and  to  secure  material  relief  for  the 
sufferers.  The  result  of  this  visit  was  more  than  sixty  thou- 
sand dollars  in  money,  besides  a  large  quantity  of  clothing. 
The  money  was  invested  in  food,  and  the  supplies  he  himself 
distributed  on  his  return  to  Greece.  Finlay  says  that  the  relief 
thus  given  saved  a  large  part  of  the  Greek  people  from  perish- 
ing. 

Such  works  of  mercy  were  not  without  their  dangers,  and 
it  required  all  Howe's  courage  and  astuteness  to  outwit  the 
warring  chiefs.  Thus,  at  Nauplia,  where  Gravis  was  in- 
trenched on  impregnable  Palamedi,  and  Colocotroni  held  the 
fort  below  in  a  state  of  civil  war,  Howe  bearded  them  both, 
and  when  an  armed  force  actually  seized  his  magazine,  he 
parleyed  and  played  off  one  against  the  other  until  our  good 
old  "Constitution"  (which  he  had  meantime  summoned  from 
Spetsia)  came  ploughing  up  the  gulf  to  back  up  our  hero. 
Howe  also  found  employment  for  thousands  of  refugees,  and 
established  and  maintained  a  colony  on  the  isthmus  of  Cor- 
inth. 

At  the  close  of  the  war,  Howe  returned  to  Boston,  where 
he  was  induced  soon  after  by  John  D.  Fisher,  a  graduate  of 
the  Harvard  Medical  School  in  the  class  of  1825,  to  return 
to  Europe  for  the  purpose  of  visiting  the  schools  for  the  blind 
in  France  and  Germany,  and  to  study  the  methods  of  edu- 
cating the  blind  as  established  by  Valentin  Haiiy.  He  reached 
Paris  in  time  to  take  part  in  the  Revolution  which  placed  Louis 
Philippe  on  the  throne.  At  the  request  of  Lafayette,  Howe 
undertook  the  delivery  of  supplies  of  money  and  clothing  sent 
from  America  for  the  people  of  Poland,  then  fighting  Russia. 
Having  performed  successfully  this  hazardous  task  he  pro- 
ceeded to  Berlin  for  his  studies.     On  the  night  of  his  arrival 


746  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

there,  he  was  arrested  for  his  connection  with  the  Poland 
mission.  Five  weeks  of  imprisonment  he  employed  to  good 
advantage.  Obtaining  possession  of  some  German  works  on 
educating  the  blind, — books  he  had  never  heard  of  in  Paris, — 
he  set  about  translating  them.  Years  afterwards  the  King  of 
Prussia  gave  him  a  gold  medal  for  his  success  in  teaching 
Laura  Bridgman.  Howe  had  the  curiosity  to  weigh  the 
medal,  and  found  its  value  to  be  exactly  the  sum  which  his 
prison  fare  had  cost  him  in  1832. 

Returning  from  Berlin  to  America,  Howe  began  the  task 
with  which  his  name  will  always  be  associated.  In  this  he 
was  under  the  instruction  of  three  Harvard  graduates — John 
D.  Fisher,  John  Homans  and  Edward  Brooks.  The  begin- 
ning was  on  a  very  small  scale;  three  children  of  one  family 
whom  he  found  on  one  of  the  public  roads  were  taught  at  his 
father's  house,  and  subsequently  at  a  small  hired  house  in 
Hollis  Street.  The  origin  of  this  great  work  for  the  blind  is 
best  told  in  the  following  letter  from  a  friend  of  Horace 
Mann: 

"  When  we  first  became  acquainted  with  Mr.  Mann  he  took  Mary 
(afterwards  Mrs.  Mann)  and  me  to  a  small  wooden  house  in  Hollis 
Street  where,  in  the  simplest  surroundings,  we  found  Dr.  Howe  with  the 
half-dozen  first  pupils  he  had  first  picked  up  in  the  highways  and  byways. 
He  had  then  been  about  six  months  at  work,  and  had  invented  and 
laborously  executed  some  books  with  raised  letters,  to  teach  them  to 
read,  some  geographical  maps,  and  the  geometrical  diagrams  necessary  for 
instruction  in  mathematics.  He  had  gummed  twine,  I  think,  upon  card- 
board, an  enormous  labor,  to  form  the  letters  of  the  alphabet. 

"  I  shall  not,  in  all  time,  forget  the  impression  made  upon  me  by 
seeing  the  hero  of  the  Greek  Revolution,  who  had  narrowly  missed  being 
that  of  the  Polish  Revolution  also;  to  see  this  hero,  I  say,  wholly 
absorbed,  and  applying  all  the  energies  of  his  genius  to  this  apparently 
humble  work,  and  doing  it  as  Christ  did,  without  money  and  without 
price.  His  own  resources  at  this  time  could  not  have  paid  the  expenses 
of  his  undertaking,  with  all  the  economy  and  self-denial  he  practised. 
The  fuller  purse  of  his  friend  and  brother  Dr.  Fisher,  assisted  him.  Soon 
after  our  visit  to  him,  he  brought  out  his  class  for  exhibition,  in  order 
to   interest   people   and    get   money    sufficient    to    carry   on    the   work    on 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  747 

a  larger  scale.  The  many  exhibitions  given  created  a  furor  of  enthusiasm, 
and  Col.  Perkin's  great  heart  responded  to  the  moving  appeal.  He  now 
offered  his  fine  estate  in  Pearl  Street,  a  large  house  and  grounds,  for 
the  use  and  benefit  of  the  blind,  provided  that  the  city  of  Boston  would 
raise  $50,000  for  the  same  purpose.  To  this  appeal  the  ladies  of  Boston 
responded  by  planning  and  holding  the  first  fancy-fair  ever  known  in 
Boston.  It  was  in  Faneuil  Hall,  and  everybody  contributed  either  in 
money  or  in  articles  for  the  sale.  The  net  result  of  this  fair  amounted 
to  something  over  $49,00." 

Howe  was  a  practical  man,  a  financier,  an  active  force  in 
reforms  and  in  all  that  made  for  human  progress.  His  motto 
was,  "Obstacles  are  things  to  be  overcome,"  and  he  lived  up 
to  it.  New  working  machinery  was  necessary ;  he  created  it, 
instructing  his  corps  of  teachers  so  thoroughly  that  later,  when 
the  Sydenham  School  in  England  was  established,  a  whole 
corps  of  former  pupils  of  Howe  were  selected  to  give  the 
instruction ;  he  invented  raised  letters  for  printing  the  Bible, 
a  wonderful  achievement  in  itself;  in  person  he  superintended 
every  detail  of  the  work,  and  gave  to  the  world  a  New  Testa- 
ment for  the  Blind  in  1837,  and  an  Old  Testament  in  1843. 
These  were  reduced  one  half  in  size  as  compared  with  the  books 
then  in  use  in  Europe.  This  materially  diminishing  the  cost. 
The  plates  alone  for  this  work  meant  an  outlay  of  $13,000.  In 
his  school  he  maintained  strict  discipline  by  the  simplest  of 
rules, — early  hours,  cold  bathing,  careful  diet,  and  exercise 
in  the  open  air  and  gymnasium;  he  blindfolded  himself,  and 
thus  went  about  for  weeks  in  order  more  fully  to  enter  into 
the  life  and  spirit  of  his  pupils.  His  work  outgrew  the  size 
of  a  commodious  house,  and  in  1839  ne  secured  larger  quar- 
ters. 

Tn  the  midst  of  these  arduous  duties  he  heard  of  a  seven- 
years-old  child,  blind,  deaf  and  dumb,  and  deficient  in  the 
sense  of  smell,  the  result  of  an  attack  of  scarlet  fever  in  in- 
fancy. She  was  at  Hanover,  New  Hampshire.  Here  was 
the  opportunity  for  putting  to  a  test  his  long  cherished  belief 


748  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

that,  notwithstanding  the  positive  statement  to  the  contrary 
of  such  high  authorities  as  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  Sir  Thomas 
Dick  Lander,  Dugald  Stewart,  and  Sir  Astley  Cooper,  such 
a  child  could  be  educated.  The  story  of  his  success  with 
Laura  Bridgman  has  become  too  well  known  to  require  repe- 
tition. It  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  exploits  in  philanthropy, 
ancient  or  modern.  Who  may  not  envy  Samuel  Howe  the 
joy  of  that  hour  when  his  persistent,  patient,  almost  super- 
natural power  reached  the  light  of  reason  in  the  child's  hith- 
erto lifeless  mind,  and  she  answered  with  a  smile  of  surprise? 
If  you  would  follow  the  history  of  Laura  Bridgman's  won- 
derful progress,  study  the  annual  reports  of  the  Blind  Asylum 
by  Howe,  and  Charles  Dickens'  inimitable  and  pathetic  de- 
scription. 

Howe  continued  as  superintendent  of  the  Perkin's  Institu- 
tion (as  it  soon  came  to  be  known)  for  forty-three  years,  and 
many  of  his  ideas  remain  to-day  practically  unchanged.  Two 
points  in  his  administration  of  that  institution  are  worth  spe- 
cial mention.  First,  he  maintained  that  the  blind  should  be- 
come self-supporting,  and  to  accomplish  this  he  established 
a  department  of  manual  labor.  Second,  he  strove  for  the 
development  of  those  individual  traits  or  tendencies  inherent 
in  the  several  pupils.  Music  was  the  branch  mostly  taken 
advantage  of  by  these  unfortunates,  although  many  other 
occupations  were  developed. 

Uusy  as  Howe  was  with  bis  duties  at  the  Institution  for  the 
Blind,  he  found  time  to  aid  another  class  of  dependants  whose 
presence  in  the  community  is  a  grave  offense.  These  are  the 
feeble-minded  and  idiotic.  He  bad  seen,  also,  the  successful 
workings  of  the  articulate  method  in  teaching  deaf-mutes, 
when  he  was  in  Europe.  He  tried  to  introduce  the  method 
here,  and  was  met  witli  ridicule,  indifference  and  strong  oppo- 
siton.  "Don  Quixote"  was  the  term  most  often  employed  in 
referring  to  his  suggestion.     The  American  Asylum  for  Deaf 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  749 

Mutes  at  Hartford  refused  to  give  him  an  opportunity  to 
test  his  convictions,  so  he  quietly  began  with  two  little  deaf- 
mutes  of  his  own  finding,  and  by  going  to  the  homes  of  others 
succeeded  in  inducing  the  parents  to  give  the  method  a  trial. 
Soon  people  ceased  to  laugh,  then  they  admired  and  wondered, 
and  then  the  School  for  Feeble-Minded  Children  was  estab- 
lished. To-day  it  is  one  of  Massachusetts'  noblest  public  in- 
stitutions. 

The  State  acquiesced  in  Howe's  suggestion  that  a  commis- 
sion be  appointed  to  investigate  the  number  and  condition  of 
idiots  within  its  borders.  The  report  of  that  Commission 
(1848),  of  which  Howe  was  chairman,  was  a  revelation  as 
well  as  a  mortification  to  Massachusetts  folk.  The  Legisla- 
ture appropriated  $2,500  per  annum  for  three  years,  to  try  the 
experiment  of  teaching  ten  idiotic  children. 

Then,  in  185 1,  Howe  plunged  into  the  anti-slavery  move- 
ment ;  with  several  others  he  started  the  "Commonwealth," 
and  for  more  than  a  year  was  its  literary  editor.  In  that  cause 
he  was  a  vigorous  partisan.  When  the  Civil  War  broke  out, 
though  he  had  long  passed  the  military  age,  Howe  put  himself 
at  the  disposal  of  the  government,  and  was  appointed  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Sanitary  Commission  ;  as  such  he  followed  the  course 
of  the  struggle  with  close  and  intense  interest.  He  was  of 
great  assistance  to  the  Union,  for  he  was  a  trained  man  of 
vast  experience.  In  1863  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  com- 
mission to  inquire  into  the  condition  of  the  freedmen  of  the 
South,  and  the  subsequent  report  of  that  Commission  resulted 
in  establishing  the  Freedman's  Bureau. 

In  1865  Governor  Andrew  appointed  him  chairman  of  the 
recently  established  Board  of  State  Charities  (1863).  Mis 
successor,  Frank  B.  Sanborn,  thus  spoke  of  Howe's  services 
on  this  board  : 

"  When  he  came  to  the  head  of  the  public  charities  of  Massachusetts, 
late  in   1865,  his  genius  soon   found   means   t>>  turn   both   our  theory  and 


750  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

practice  in  new  directions,  and  to  convert  by  gradual  changes  the  existing 
policy  of  congregating  the  poor  and  defective  in  large  establishments, 
into  a  wiser  system.  In  practice,  it  is  true,  much  remains  to  be  done, 
especially  with  regard  to  the  insane;  but  Howe's  theory  has  become 
the  accepted  one  in  New  England  and  elsewhere.  He  began  with  the 
dispersion  of  children,  then  in  poorhouses  and  reform  schools,  among 
the  kindly  families  of  New  England,  and  now  there  is  hardly  a  state  of 
the  Union  where  such  is  not  the  adopted  policy.  When  the  inmates 
of  a  charitable  establishment  could  not  be  wisely  placed  in  a  family, 
he  advised  that  the  establishment  should  be  kept  small,  and  its  manage- 
ment  brought  as  near  to  the  mass   of  the  people  as  practicable." 

Howe's  "General  Principles  of  Public  Charity"  is  often 
quoted ;  here  are  some  of  those  principles : 

"  It  is  better  to  separate  and  diffuse  the  dependent  classes  than  to 
congregate  them." 

"  We  ought  to  avail  ourselves  of  those  remedial  agencies  which  exist 
in  society,  the  family,  social  influences,  industrial  occupations,  etc." 

"  We  should  enlist  the  greatest  number  of  individuals  and  families  in 
the  care  and  treatment  of  the  dependent." 

"  We  should  build  up  public  institutions  only  in  the  last  resort." 

'  These  should  be  kept  small,  and  arranged  as  to  turn  the  strength  and 
faculties  of  the  inmates  to  the  best  account." 

Such  views,  like  his  views  on  the  care  and  education  of  the 
blind,  deaf  and  insane,  were  once  thought  revolutionary,  but 
to-day  the  civilized  world  conducts  such  departments  upon 
the  lines  laid  down  by  Howe.  He  was  the  first  to  suggest  the 
establishment  of  visiting  agencies.  He  resigned  from  the 
board  in  October,  1874. 

Some  of  my  readers  may  remember  the  interesting  meeting 
held  at  Bumstead  Hall  in  January,  1869,  in  behalf  of  the 
Cretans.  Howe  was  one  of  the  prime  movers,  and  the  $37,000 
raised  was  entrusted  to  his  care.  Personally  he  visited  the 
seat  of  war  in  order  thai  he  might  the  better  disburse  the 
funds.  This  visit  was  a  triumphal  march,  and  witnessed  the 
gratitude  of  the  Greek  nation  in  recognition  of  his  service 
then  as  well  as  that  of  forty-five  years  before.  After  eight 
months  of  hazardous  work  in  distributing  food  and  clothing 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  751 

to  those  unhappy  people,  he  returned  to  Boston,  organized  a 
Fancy  Fair,  and  so  added  twenty  thousand  dollars  to  that 
fund.  He  also  published  a  paper  called  "The  Cretan,"  to  ad- 
vocate the  lost  cause. 

In  1870  Howe  was  one  of  the  commissioners  appointed  by 
the  Federal  government  to  visit  Santo  Domingo  and  report 
upon  the  feasibility  of  annexing  it  to  the  United  States.  An- 
nexation having  failed,  a  company  was  formed  in  this  country 
to  lease  from  the  island  the  Peninsula  of  Samana.  Howe  be- 
came one  of  the  directors  of  this  enterprise,  and  again  visited 
the  West  Indies.  Success  seemed  within  his  grasp,  when  one 
of  the  frequent  island  revolutions  shattered  public  confidence 
and  the  project  failed.  However,  he  spent  a  year  in  Samana, 
trying  to  regain  his  health,  which  had  been  shattered.  Finally 
he  was  able  to  return  home,  where  he  took  up  his  duties  as  a 
Trustee  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  but  his  vigor 
gradually  failed  until  his  death  in  Boston  on  January  9th, 
1876.  The  Governor  of  Massachusetts  sent  the  following 
special  message  to  the  Legislature,  then  in  session : 

"  I  have  the  mournful  dulv  of  communicating  to  the  General  Court 
tidings  of  the  death  of  a  distinguished  citizen  of  Massachusetts,  Dr. 
Samuel  G.  Howe  of  Boston,  for  nearly  half  a  century  connected  most 
prominently  with  the  charitable  and  educational  institutions  of  the  com- 
monwealth. 

'The  services  rendered  by  Dr.  Howe  to  Massachusetts,  to  the  United 
States,  and  to  the  whole  world,  by  his  eager,  energetic  and  long-continued 
labors  to  educate  the  blind  and  the  deaf,  to  reform  the  discipline  of  prisons, 
to  instruct  the  idiotic,  and  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  insane, 
and  of  the  unfortunate  of  all  classes,  merit  the  recognition  which  they 
have  received  in  years  past,  and  call  for  some  public  tribute  to  his  mem- 
ory, now  that  his  long  and  noble  career  of  philanthropy  has  closed. 

"At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  still  at  the  head  of  the  Massachusetts 
Asylum  for  the  Blind,  of  which  he  was  the  founder,  and  for  more  than 
forty  years  the  Director.  I  am  informed  that  his  funeral  rites  will  be 
performed  there,  in  presence  of  the  pupils  whom  his  skill  has  instructed, 
and  of  whom,  at  his  suggestion,  this  Commonwealth  has  long  been  the 
beneficent  patron. 

"I    leave   to   the    wisdom    of   the   General    Court    the   adoption    of    such 


752  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

measures  as  may  testify  the  sorrow  which  the  people  of  Massachusetts 
feel  at  the  death  of  a  philanthropist  so  illustrious,  and  a  public  servant 
so  faithful  in  his  high  vocation." 

The  Senate  and  House  held  appropriate  services  at  which 
speeches  were  made  by  leading  members,  and  the  following 
resolutions  were  adopted : 

"  RESOLUTIONS    OF    THE   GENERAL    COURT. 

"'■  Resolved,  That  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts,  ever  mindful  of 
the  welfare  of  the  poor  and  the  claims  of  the  unfortunate  among  its 
people,  recalls  with  gratitude  the  constant  and  efficacious  service  devoted 
by  the  late  Dr.  Samuel  G.  Howe  to  the  education  of  the  blind,  the  deaf, 
and  the  feeble-minded  children  of  this  Commonwealth,  to  the  improvement 
of  the  discipline  of  prisons  and  reform  schools,  to  the  better  care  of  the 
insane,  the  prevention  of  pauperism,  and,  in  general,  to  the  public  char- 
ities of  Massachusetts,  with  which  he  has  been  for  a  whole  generation 
officially  connected. 

"  Resolved,  That  especial  mention  ought  to  be  made  of  that  grand 
achievement  of  science  and  patient  beneficence,  the  education  by  Dr.  Howe 
of  deaf,  dumb,  and  blind  children  in  such  a  manner  as  to  restore  them 
to  that  communication  with  their  friends  and  with  the  world  which 
others  enjoy,  but  from  which  they  seemed  wholly  debarred  until  his 
genius  and  benevolence  found  for  them  the  key  of  language,  accustomed 
it  to  their  hands,  and  thus  gave  them  freedom,  instead  of  bondage,  and 
light  for  darkness. 

"Resolved,  That  the  people  of  Massachusetts,  always  desirous  of 
liberty  for  themselves  and  for  others,  proudly  cherish  the  recollection  of 
that  gallant  spirit  which  led  Dr.  Howe,  in  youth,  in  mature  manhood 
and  in  advancing  age,  to  rank  himself,  with  many  or  with  few,  among 
the  champions  of  oppressed  races  and  emancipated  nationalities,  emu- 
lating in  this  the  deeds  of  his  countrymen  in  the  American  Revolution, 
and  the  noble  career  of  his  friend  and  the  friend  of  mankind — the  illus- 
trious Lafayette. 

"  Resolved,  That  we  tender  our  sympathy  to  the  family  of  the  deceased, 
and  that  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  forwarded  to  them." 

Governor  Bullock  in  his  eulogy  said :  "Nor  can  we  l>etter 
discharge  the  duty  of  this  hour  than  by  fastening  upon  his 
memory  the  title  which  shall  carry  to  the  schools  of  the  State, 
to  all  the  walks  of  life,  whether  of  study  or  business  or  leisure, 
to  all  the  ambitions  and  activities  of  this  wonderful  people, 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  753 

suggestions  and  inspirations  for  the  consecration  to  the  wel- 
fare of  the  race, — the  title  of  the  Massachusetts  Philanthro- 
pist." 

Henry  I.  Bowditch  wrote,  "With  the  exception  of  Gari- 
baldi, I  have  always  considered  Samuel  G.  Howe  as  the  man- 
liest man  it  has  been  my  fortune  to  meet  in  this  world.  The 
two  are  in  my  regard  equal,  and  very  simliar  in  their  traits 
of  character.  Both  have  been  fearless  of  any  personal  danger 
in  the  fight ;  both  have  been  intensely  loyal  to  what  they 
deemed  the  right ;  both  have  always  been  ready  to  throw  them- 
selves into  the  front  ranks  in  defense  of  the  weak  and  down- 
trodden; both,  at  times  impulsive  in  word  and  action,  often  to 
a  fault,  yet  always  commanding  the  respect  even  of  oppo- 
nents, because  self  seemed  always  subordinate  to  their  ideals 
of  justice  and  of  truth." 

George  F.  Hoar  said,  "His  is  one  of  the  great  figures  in 
American  history ;  I  do  not  think  of  another  who  combines  the 
character  of  a  great  reformer,  of  a  great  moral  champion, 
of  a  great  administrator  of  great  enterprises,  requiring  busi- 
ness sagacity  and  wisdom  as  well  as  courage,  always  in  the 
van,  with  the  character  also  of  a  knight-errant  who  crossed  the 
sea,  like  the  Red  Cross  Knight  of  old,  to  champion  the  cause 
of  liberty  in  a  distant,  nation.  There  was  never  on  the  soil 
of  Massachusetts,  fertile  as  that  soil  has  been  of  patriots  and 
heroes  and  of  lovers,  a  more  patriotic  hero,  a  more  loving 
knight." 


*&>' 


DAVID  HUMPHREYS  STORER. 

I  )avid  Humphreys  Storer  was  born  in  Portland,  Maine. 
March  26th,  1804.  After  receiving  his  A.  B.  degree  from 
Bowdoin  College  in  [822,  he  studied  medicine  at  the  Harvard 
Medical  School,  whence  he  was  graduated  M.  D.  in  1825. 

Early  he  became  interested  in  medical  education,  and  in 
1838  helped  to  found   the  Tremont    Medical    School.      With 


754  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

him  were  associated  Edward  Reynolds,  Jacob  Bigelow,  and 
Oliver  Wendell  Holmes, — all  to  become  professors,  as  was 
himself,  in  the  Harvard  School.  In  the  Tremont  School, 
Storer  was  a  hard  worker.  Warm-hearted,  with  an  impulsive 
nature,  he  threw  himself  into  his  tasks.  His  enthusiasm  was 
contagious,  and  did  much  to  popularize  the  teaching  at  that 
School,  which  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  produced  so  many 
well  equipped  and  prominent  physicians.  To  young  men  be- 
ginning the  study  of  medicine,  Storer  was  a  warm  friend. 
For  him  the  Hippocratic  relation  of  father  and  son  was  the 
position  of  teacher  and  pupil.  With  his  eager  nature,  and 
the  courage  to  call  a  spade  a  spade,  he  often  ruffled  the  older 
men,  but  all  admitted  that  his  motives  were  honest  and  his 
purposes  just. 

In  1854,  September  9th,  he  was  elected  Professor  of  Ob- 
stetrics and  Medical  Jurisprudence  at  Harvard,  as  the  succes- 
sor to  Walter  Channing.  These  branches  of  medicine  had  not 
reached  that  state  of  high  cultivation  of  which  we  boast  to- 
day, so  it  was  fortunate  for  the  school  and  its  students  that 
they  were  entrusted  to  such  a  hard,  conscientious  worker  as 
was  Storer.  In  the  fourteen  years  of  his  professorship,  Storer 
was  never  absent  from  his  duty,  and  tardy  but  thrice.  This 
unusual  fidelity  seems  the  more  remarkable  when  one  learns 
of  the  immense  obstetrical  practice  under  which  he  staggered. 

As  a  lecturer,  Storer  was  a  success;  clear,  positive,  practical 
and  interesting.  Each  student  felt  that  the  instruction  given 
was  directed  to  his  individual  needs.  The  men  soon  learned 
that  they  had  in  this  teacher  a  sympathetic  friend  as  well  as 
a  valued  adviser.  One  of  bis  associates  in  the  Faculty  said 
of  him:  "As  a  Professor  lie  was  remarkable  beyond  any  of 
his  colleagues  for  the  personal  interest  he  took  in  the  students, 
He  kept  up  a  familiar,  friendly,  paternal,  or  rather  fraternal 
companionship  with  many  among  them,  and  did  more  prob- 
ably than  any  one  of  us  to  make  them  love  their  medical  Alma 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  755 

Mater."  These  qualities  caused  them  to  elect  him  Dean  of 
the  School,  a  post  he  held  for  nine  years  (1855-64)  with  in- 
creasing advantage. 

Storer's  treatment  of  the  subject  he  taught  was  eminently 
practical ;  he  taught  "patience  and  expectancy  up  to  the  proper 
time  for  interference,  prompt  and  fearless  action  when  that 
time  came."  That  is  a  good  motto  for  the  obstetrician.  To 
it  should  be  added  Storer's  other  maxim,  that  "Codes  of 
ethics  are  made  for  thieves,  not  for  an  honorable  profession." 
He  was  visiting  physician  at  the  Massachusetts  General  Hos- 
pital from  1849  t0  ^58  and  there  his  instruction  to  the  house- 
officers  made  his  service  a  great  training  school. 

Running  parallel  with  this  busy  life  in  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine was  another  of  equal  activity  in  natural  history.  Storer 
was  one  of  the  earliest  members  of  the  Boston  Society  of 
Natural  History.  It  is  worthy  of  mention  that  at  the  first 
annual  meeting,  183 1,  of  this  Society,  six  of  the  seven  officers 
then  elected  were  physicians,  a  proportion  which  held  good 
at  the  annual  election  of  1855.  Schools  of  natural  history 
were  then  few  in  this  country,  and  we  find  many  physicians 
who  afterwards  became  prominent  taking  their  lessons  in 
advanced  science  at  the  meetings  of  this  Boston  society.  Rog- 
ers, Gould,  Cabot,  Jackson,  Agassiz,  Gray,  Pickering,  Brewer, 
Bryant,  Bouve,  Sprague,  Wyman,  Green,  Binney,  Ware,  Har- 
ris, Warren,  Channing  and  Shurtleff  were  some  of  the  physi- 
cians associated  with  Storer  in  this  society,  in  that  important 
era  of  biological  upheaval — the  Darwinian  era.  These  meet- 
ings had  much  of  the  attraction  of  a  social  club.  Each  member 
endeavored  to  add  his  contribution,  and  by  suggestion  aided 
to  improve  the  contributions  of  the  others.  Among  this  group 
of  workers  Storer  held  a  high  place.  Elected  as  the  first 
Recording  Secretary,  he  shared  with  the  President,  Jeffries 
Wyman,  much  of  the  detail  work  in  laying  a  solid  foundation 
for  the  Society.     Pie  held  this  office  for  six  years,  and  was 


756  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

one  of  the  seven  members  appointed  to  give  lectures.  In  that 
capacity  he  made  a  report  (1831)  on  Mollusca  for  the  Geo- 
logical Survey  of  the  State,  and  gave  two  lectures  on  Shells. 
In  1836  he  was  elected  curator,  and  so  won  by  their  votes 
the  thanks  of  the  Society  "for  the  great  zeal,  accuracy,  and 
fidelity  which  he  had  manifested  in  its  behalf  since  its  estab- 
lishment.'' When  Curators  were  elected  (1838)  for  the  sep- 
arate departments,  Storer  was  chosen  for  the  department  on 
Reptiles  and  Fishes.  This  was  in  the  year  following  his  well- 
known  report  to  the  Legislature  upon  the  Fishes  and  Reptiles 
of  Massachusetts.  In  1843  ne  began  a  seventeen  years  service 
as  Vice-President  of  the  Society. 

The  Mason  Street  rooms  of  the  Society  were  found  in- 
capable of  further  enlargement  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  grow- 
ing Cabinet,  and  in  1845  Storer,  Binney,  Gould  and  Charles 
T.  Jackson  were  appointed  a  committee  to  solicit  funds  for 
the  erection  of  a  new  building.  In  1848  the  Society  pur- 
chased the  old  building  on  Mason  Street,  then  recently  va- 
cated by  the  Harvard  Medical  School.  For  this  accomplish- 
ment Storer  shared  with  his  associates  the  thanks  of  the  So- 
ciety "for  the  earnestness  and  perseverence  shown  by  them 
in  raising  the  funds  for  adapting  the  new  building  to  the  use 
of  the  Society."  The  annual  address  was  assigned  to  him 
for  that  year,  and  the  records  call  his  effort  eloquent  and  in- 
teresting. Concerning  his  thirty  years  of  constant  service  to 
this  Society  the  historian  says : 

"  Dr.  D.  Humphreys  Storer  was  continually  bringing  forward  speci- 
mens for  the  cabinet ;  at  one  time  he  presented  seventy  specimens,  all 
carefully  put  up  by  him  in  glass  bottles  and  labelled.  To  his  generosity 
mainly  was  due  the  fact,  that  out  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  species  of 
Massachusetts  fishes  then  known,  ninety  were  in  the  collection,  and  every 
described  reptile  of  the  State  with  one  exception." 

Storer's  important  publication  on  natural  history  was  his 
"Historv  ot  the  Fishes  of  Massachusetts,"  1867.     It  consists 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  757 

of  287  pages  with  thirty-seven  plates,  and  is  a  classic  in 
North  American  Ichthyology.  More  recent  works  may  have 
increased  the  variety,  but  for  the  species  described  by  Storer 
no  better  or  more  accurate  book  has  appeared.  This  work 
grew  out  of  his  appointment  in  1839  as  one  of  the  Commis- 
sioners on  the  Zoology  of  Massachusetts.  That  commission 
was  the  forerunner  of  the  fishery  commission  of  the  national 
government  and  of  various  state  commissions.  In  compiling 
this  book  Storer  had  to  obtain  his  information  from  the  mar- 
kets or  from  the  fishermen,  and  the  fact  that  years  of  work 
by  other  investigators  have  failed  to  alter  materially  his  state- 
ments shows  that  he  made  no  mistake  in  the  choice  of  his 
sources  of  knowledge.  A  fellow  worker  in  this  field  of  natural 
science  says  of  him :  "In  the  amount  of  information  given, 
with  its  accuracy  and  style  of  presentation,  he  has  established 
his  claim  to  present  and  future  gratitude,  and  has  proved  his 
right  to  rank  amongst  the  foremost  of  American  ichthyolo- 
gists." 

Storer  was  an  active  member  also  in  the  American  Acad- 
emy of  Arts  and  Sciences,  the  American  Philosophical  So- 
ciety, the  Boston  Society  of  Medical  Improvement,  the  Mas- 
sachusetts Medical  Society,  the  American  Medical  Associa- 
tion, the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Sci- 
ence, Honorary  Member  of  the  New  York  Medical  Society, 
and  of  the  Rhode  Island  Medical  Society,  and  Corresponding 
member  of  the  Academy  of  Natural  Science  of  Philadelphia. 
Bowdoin  College  conferred  the  LL.  D.  upon  him  in  1876. 

Upon  the  resignation  of  Professor  Storer  his  associates  in 
the  Medical  Faculty  sent  him  the  following  letter : 

"Dear  Friend  and  Colleague:  Tt  is  with  great  regret  that  we,  tlic 
members  of  the  Medical  Faculty,  have  received  your  note  staling  thai 
you  have  sent  your  resignation  to  the  Corporation.  We  had  hoped  to 
continue  long  to  profit  by  your  services  and  to  enjoy  your  companionship. 
We   trusted   that   you    would    sharp    with    us   the    pleasure    of    seeing   our 


758  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

institution,  so  long  and  deeply  endebted   to  your  labors,   flourishing  and 
extending  still  further  its  usefulness  and  reputation. 

'  You  will  carry  with  you  the  kindest  remembrances  of  your  colleagues 
and  the  recollection  of  services  which  we  feel  to  have  been  of  the  highest 
value  to  the  cause  of  medical  education.  We  are  sure  that  the  Medical 
School  and  the  University,  on  the  roll  of  whose  honored  instructors  your 
name  will  stand  recorded,  when  the  edifice  which  now  shelters  their 
students  shall  have  all  crumbled  to  ruin,  you  will  still  remain,  as  we 
confidently  believe,  the  friend  and  counsellor  of  those  with  whom  you 
have  been  so  long  associated. 

"  As  a  teacher  you  have  been  eminent,  interesting,  instructive,  inde- 
fatigable ;  as  Dean,  attentive  to  every  duty,  and  ever  watchful  for  the 
welfare  of  the  students ;    as  a  colleague  always  kind  and  devoted. 

"This  is  our  record  in  simple  truth  and  justice.  Accept  our  kindest 
wishes  at  parting  and  believe  us 

""'  Very  sincerely  your  friends." 

(Signed  by  the  members  of  the  Faculty.) 

As  a  man,  Storer  was  genial  and  charitable.  An  enthusiast 
of  the  highest  type,  he  was  successful  in  many  branches  of 
work  which  would  have  crushed  a  less  active  man.  Fearless, 
impulsive,  positive  in  his  opinions,  with  a  frankness  of  ex- 
pression which  often  brought  him  antagonism,  his  nature 
rebelled  against  all  forms  of  deceit  and  hypocrisy,  and  he 
never  hesitated  to  expose  either.  He  died  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
seven,  in  Boston,  on  September  10,  1891. 

JOHN  BARNARD  SWETT  JACKSON. 

J.  B.  S.  Jackson  was  born  in  Boston,  on  September  5,  1806. 
He  was  graduated  from  Harvard,  A.  B.,  in  1825,  and  took 
his  M.  D.  there  in  1829. 

Jackson  never  took  up  practice,  but  like  his  two  associates 
in  the  Medical  Faculty  elected  at  the  same  meeting*  with  him- 
self, he  gave  his  life  to  the  scientific  aspects  only  of  medicine. 
It  has  been  said  by  one  of  his  biographers  that  he  was  too 

*  April  3,  1847.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  and  Jeffries  Wyman.  Cor- 
poration Meeting. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  759 

sensitive,  too  scrupulous,  to  work  as  a  private  practitioner.  By 
others  it  has  been  said  that  his  constitution  and  nature  were 
too  delicate  for  the  rough  out-of-doors  work  of  the  physician's 
life.  Whatever  the  cause,  his  reputation  rests  upon  his  accom- 
plishments as  a  pathologist.  Disease  and  its  effects  upon  or- 
gans, rather  than  its  relation  to  health,  was  his  life-long  study. 
As  a  pathologist  his  fame  became  international.  Holmes 
styled  him  the  first  American  pathologist  of  his  generation. 
Jackson  was  not  a  microscopist ;  indeed,  microscopists  were 
scarce  in  his  time.  But  what  he  knew,  he  knew  thoroughly, 
and  never  assumed  to  know  more  than  his  eyes  taught  him. 
He  was  devoted  to  his  work,  and  early  won  a  reputation  for 
sagacity  and  accuracy  which  made  his  word  law.  His  opinion 
was  given  with  such  modesty  and  truthfulness  that  it  was 
never  questioned. 

Jackson  loved  knowledge  for  its  own  sake,  and  as  a  teacher 
he  imparted  that  knowledge  with  such  exactness  and  original- 
ity that  its  genuineness  was  immediately  recognized.  It  was 
upon  this  basis  that  his  fame  as  a  teacher  rested,  rather  than 
upon  fluency  or  copiousness  of  speech.  One  of  his  char- 
acteristics was  his  devotion  to  the  idea  of  the  moment.  He 
had  perfect  confidence  in  the  accuracy  of  his  observations, 
which  he  pursued  with  steadfastness  and  success. 

In  1847,  the  year  of  his  election  as  Professor  of  Patholog- 
ical Anatomy  in  the  Medical  School,  Jackson  published  a 
catalogue  of  the  Cabinet  of  the  Society  for  Medical  Improve- 
ment. He  had  been  curator  of  this  Cabinet  for  many  years, 
and  its  perfection  was  due  to  his  personal  labors.  He  had. 
been  one  of  the  early  members  (  1831)  of  the  Society,  ami  the 
Cabinet  became  his  special  care.  This  catalogue  was  com- 
prised in  350  pages  of  descriptive  anatomy  -and  pathology,  and 
was  admitted  to  be  the  most  valuable  contribution  to  path- 
ological anatomy  until  then  made  in  this  country.     The  Cabinet 


i   ■;• 


': 


i" 


: 


■  U 

/ 

1 

J-     ,< 

i5ftw^- 


C^O*****,  J^^W^Y 


¥L 


A.  I'..  1828;    \.  M.j   M.  D.  1832. 
ackson  Professor  of  Clinical  Medicine  1859-1867. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  761 

regard,  or  his  character  referred  to  except  as  a  man  without  guile,  true 
as  truth,  pure  as  purity,  honest  as  nature  herself,  whose  works  he  studied. 
It  may  sound  like  extravagant  language  to  claim  so  much  for  him,  but 
he  was  quite  exceptional  in  the  singular  child-like  simplicity  and  trans- 
parancy  of  his  character. " 

"  If  such  a  title  were  known  to  the  Calendar  as  Saints  of  Science,  both 
these  (J.  B.  S.  Jackson  and  Jeffries  Wyman)  faithful,  sincere,  modest, 
pure  minded  students  of  nature  would  be  numbered  among  them." 

Jackson  died  in  Boston  on  January  6th,  1879. 


HENRY  INGERSOLL  BOWDITCH. 

Henry  Ingersoll  Bowditch  was  born  in  Salem,  Massachu- 
setts, August  9,  1808.  His  father,  Nathaniel  Bowditch,  an 
eminent  mathematician,  was  an  Overseer  of  Harvard  College, 
President  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences, 
and  a  member  of  many  foreign  scientific  bodies.  Under  the 
eye  of  such  a  man,  and  the  influence  of  a  gentle  mother,  Bow- 
ditch had  an  unexcelled  opportunity  for  the  development  of 
a  character  of  individuality  and  force  which  made  him  a  leader 
of  men.  In  boyhood  he  was  generous,  sympathetic,  truthful, 
manly,  impulsive,  and  always  ready  to  give  and  take  in  the 
strenuous  plays  of  his  companions 

He  was  graduated  A.  B.  from  Harvard  in  1828,  receiving 
the  A.  M.  also.  In  1832  he  obtained  his  degree  in  medicine 
from  Harvard.  After  his  medical  course  he  was  House-Pupil 
at  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital  under  Jacob  Bigelow, 
James  Jackson  and  John  Ware,  three  men  who  had  influence 
in  shaping  his  medical  character.  He  took  naturally  to  med- 
icine, rather  than  to  surgery.  In  pursuance  of  the  plan  thus 
selected,  Bowditch  continued  his  studies  in  Paris  during 
1832-34,  under  Louis,  of  whom  lie  wrote,  "my  beloved  mas- 
ter in  medicine,  whose  noble  example  will  always  lead  every 
honest  scholar  to  a  reverent  regard  for  scientific  truth,  win  re- 
works have  been  to  me  a  stimulus  to  patient  labors  in  my  pro- 


762  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

fession,  and  whose  friendship  was  to  me  a  lifelong  delight." 
The  great  teacher  found  in  his  pupil  a  mind  already  fitted  by 
inheritance  and  training  to  comprehend  and  digest  the  icono- 
clastic doctrines  of  the  medical  reformer.  For  the  methods 
which  he  encountered  in  Louis'  teachings  he  had  previously 
been  schooled  by  Jacob  Bigelow,  one  of  the  first  in  this  coun- 
try to  accept  the  system  of  precise  methods  of  observation, 
and  accurate  analyses  and  record  of  facts  in  place  of  the  dog- 
matic, pedantic  system  of  his  time.  The  conscientious  regard 
for  duty  of  James  Jackson,  and  the  quiet,  judicious,  reason- 
ing method  of  John  Ware  left  their  imprint  also  upon  Bow- 
ditch  and  contributed  to  his  success.  While  in  Paris  he  was  a 
pupil  under  Andral  and  Chomel. 

Bowditch  began  practice  in  Boston  in  1834.  While  passing 
through  the  waiting  stage  he  used  his  time  to  advantage. 
With  a  classmate,  Charles  F.  Barnard  (A.  B.  1832;  M.  D. 
1837),  he  procured  rooms  in  the  Warren  Street  Chapel,  and 
formed  classes  for  the  education  and  betterment  of  the  poor. 
Here  was  established  a  bond  of  love  and  confidence  which 
time  strengthened  and  fixed.  WTe  read  that  later  in  life  the 
boys  and  girls  used  to  come  to'  his  office  on  Saturday  after- 
noons with  their  little  earnings  for  the  savings-bank  books 
which  he  kept  for  them. 

The  year  after  his  return  from  Europe  there  occurred  an 
event  which  marked  a  turning  point  in  Bowditch's  life.  In 
the  famous  Garrison  mob  of  1835  the  young  physician  was  a 
chance  eye-witness  to  the  unjust  treatment  of  that  youthful 
anti-slavery  agitator  by  "gentlemen  of  property  and  stand- 
ing." and  on  October  21,  Garrison  was  forced  to  take  refuge 
in  the  Leverett  Street  jail.  Bowditch  was  deeply  stirred. 
From  that  moment  lie  became  an  anti-slavery  partisan.  In 
his  diary  he  says  that  he  determined  to  devote  his  "whole  heart 
to  the  abolition  of  that  monster,  slavery.  But,  even  anti- 
slavery  never  has  taken  me  away  from  constant  labor  for  the 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  763 

elevation  of  medicine."  This  decision  of  the  young  doctor 
to  take  up  the  cause  of  the  slaves  implied  a  great  deal.  Church, 
state,  the  constitutions  and  laws  of  the  country,  old  friend- 
ships and  social  ties,  were  on  the  other  side.  He  was  mocked, 
sneered  at  and  "cut"  on  the  street  by  his  father's  old  friends. 
In  a  small  city  like  Boston,  where  "society"  was  rigid  and 
autocratic,  this  ostracism  was  bitter.  Bowditch,  however,  be- 
lieved he  was  right,  which  meant  that  no  power  on  earth  could 
move  him.  With  malice  towards  none,  he  labored  on  await- 
ing the  time  when  his  intelligent  foresight  should  become  ap- 
parent. His  life  story  during  this  great  movement  is  wholly 
admirable.  We  see  the  physician-abolitionist,  with  a  pistol 
in  one  hand,  taking  the  runaway  slave  in  his  chaise  to  a  place 
of  safety;  working  for  the  fugitive  Latimer  who  was  arrested 
and  taken  from  Boston  in  1842;  agitating  the  "Great  Massa- 
chusetts Petition,"  which  resulted  in  the  passage  of  a  law 
forbidding  the  use  of  our  State  jails  for  the  detention  of  fugi- 
tive slaves,  and  prohibiting  our  State  officers  from  helping  to 
return  them. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Vigilance  Committee  in  1846  and 
in  1850;  secretary  of  the  Faneuil  Hall  Committee  in  1846, 
and  a  co-worker  with  Parker,  Phillips,  Garrison,  Sumner  and 
Ouincy.  The  agitation  aroused  by  these  men  was  little  short 
of  revolutionary  to  the  minds  of  most  of  the  community. 
"Fanatics,"  "radicals"  and  "iconoclasts"  were  some  of  the 
terms  applied  to  them.  Then  came  the  Anthony  Burns  scene 
in  May,  1854,  when  Burns,  an  escaped  slave,  was  given  up  to 
his  master,  and  taken  in  fetters  down  Court  and  State  streets 
with  "an  overwhelming  force  of  soldiers,"  State  and  national. 
If  this  was  legal,  and  in  conformity  with  public  opinion,  our 
abolitionist  friends  argued,  then  justice  must  indeed  be  blind; 
so  they  made  a  vow,  as  they  saw  the  United  States  revenue 
cutter  steaming  away  with  Burns,  that  such  a  disgrace  should 
never  again  happen  on  the  soil  of  Massachusetts.     Bowditch 


764  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

led  in  the  formation  of  an  Anti-manhunting  League, — a  secret 
oath-bound  club,  with  twenty-four  lodges  in  as  many  towns, 
and  with  a  membership  of  over  four  hundred,  who  were 
armed  with  "billies"  and  were  trained  for  capturing  and  carry- 
ing off  any  slaveholder  who  should  come  to'  the  State  to  hunt 
and  reclaim  a  runaway  slave.  Bowditch  was  secretary  of  this 
surprising  organization,  the  records  of  which  were  kept  in 
cipher. 

With  the  advent  of  actual  war,  Bowditch  threw  himself  with 
spirit  into  the  cause  of  the  North,  and  sent  two  sons  to  die 
on  the  field,  where  age  precluded  his  own  presence.  He  said 
later,  "I  am  proud  to  remember  that  I  was  among  the  first  of 
those  who  advocated  physical  resistance  to  slavery,  as  we  saw 
it  in  the  North."  Not  long  after  this  outburst  he  was  to  see 
Colonel  Shaw  march  down  Court  Street  at  the  head  of  his 
negro  regiment.  And  he  long  survived  slavery  abolished,  and 
peace  and  industry  established  in  the  South,  while  he  himself 
was  honored  and  loved  by  both  North  and  South. 

Leaving  this  political  side  of  his  life,  and  following  his  pro- 
fessional record,  let  us  see  how  faithfully  he  lived  up  to  his 
assertion  that  his  interest  in  anti-slavery  did  not  take  him 
away  from  his  labor  for  medicine.  Upon  his  return  from 
Europe  in  1834  he  was  admitted  to  the  leading  medical  so- 
ciety in  the  city,  the  Boston  Society  for  Medical  Improvement. 
In  the  following  year  (1835)  he  and  John  Ware  organized 
the  Boston  Society  for  Medical  Observation,  and  later  (1846) 
when  this  student-society,  as  it  had  been,  needed  reviving,  he 
was  one  of  eight  physicians  to  undertake  the  work.  A  life 
of  almost  fifty  years  followed,  during  which  the  Society  was 
a  great  factor  in  extending  and  popularising  the  methods  of 
Louis.  The  teachings  of  this  eminent  master  in  the  study  of 
autopsies  were  also  carried  into  private  classes  at  the  Massa- 
chusetts General  Hospital. 

Bowditch 's   first   publications   were  translations  of  Louis's 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  765 

works  on  "Typhoid  Fever,"  on  "Phthisis,"  and  one  on  the 
"Proper  Method  of  Examining  a  Patient."  His  lessons  in 
percussion  and  auscultation,  as  well  as  his  method  of  examin- 
ing patients,  made  his  visits  to  the  wards  of  the  Hospital  a 
help  to  the  students  and  house-officers.  In  1838  he  became 
Admitting  Physician  at  the  institution.  At  that  time  negroes 
were  not  received  as  patients  there,  but  Bowditch  admitted  one 
with  pneumonia.  This  action  was  vetoed  by  the  authorities, 
when  he  resigned  his  position,  a  course  which  resulted  in  his 
gaining  his  point,  as  well  as  in  the  return  of  his  resignation, 
"not  accepted."  In  1846  he  was  promoted  to  the  office  of 
Visiting  Physician,  and  held  it  until  1864.  In  1863  ne  was 
made  President  of  the  Carney  Hospital  and  its  first  Visiting 
Physician.  That  hospital  was  opened  in  1863.  Bowditch  had 
been  for  some  time  Physician  to  the  St.  Vincent  Orphan 
Asylum,  then  under  the  charge  of  "that  most  remarkable 
woman,"  as  he  called  the  founder  of  the  Carney  Hospital, 
Sister  Superior  Anne  Alexis.  He  worked  hard  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Carney,  and  his  tact,  judgment,  and  wisdom 
helped  lay  a  good  foundation  for  that  excellent  institution. 

Soon  after  the  opening  of  the  Boston  City  Hospital  (1864) 
Bowditch  was  appointed  Visiting  Physician  there,  and  he  held 
the  place  from  1868  to  1871.  Later  he  was  Consulting  Phy- 
sician to  both  Carney  and  City  Hospitals,  as  well  as  to  the 
New  England  Hospital. 

On  January  22,  1859,  Bowditch  was  elected  Jackson  Pro- 
fessor of  Clinical  Medicine  at  the  Harvard  Medical  School. 
He  had  previously  been  connected  with  the  Boylston  Medical 
School  (1852-1855),  where  he  taught  auscultation  and  per- 
cussion. As  a  teacher,  Bowditch  was  an  earnest  advocate  of 
the  principle  that  a  physician  should  treat  the  individual,  the 
patient,  as  well  as  the  disease.  This  need  he  impressed  upon 
the  pupils,  who  sought  eagerly  the  privilege  of  being  under 
his  guidance.     To  younger  men  he  was  kind  and  generous,  to 


766  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

his  professional  associates  an  inspiration.  As  one  reads  the 
life  of  this  eminent  man,  one  can  but  admire  both  his  great 
heart  and  his  active  brain.  Everything  which  appealed  to  him 
for  the  elevation  of  mankind  received  his  enthusiastic  support. 
As  director  of  the  Boston  Co-operative  Building  Association 
he  was  an  important  agent  in  improving  the  dwellings  of  the 
poor.  He  was  a  constant  visitor  to'  "Crystal  Palace,"  and  his 
working  evenings  spent  with  the  people  at  that  notorious  old 
tenement,  sowed  the  seed  which  has  developed  into  our  system 
of  industrial  education.  He  was  an  advocate  of  Congressional 
action  for  a  more  humane  medical  service  during  the  War,  and 
so  he  helped  secure  an  ambulance  service;  in  sanitary  science 
he  guided  the  State  Legislature  to  the  creation  of  the  first 
Board  of  Health  in  this  country.  This  last  he  accomplished 
by  means  of  a  comprehensive  and  convincing  chart  showing 
the  prevalence  of  pulmonary  consumption  in  Massachusetts, 
and  its  relation  to  soil  moisture.  He  was  appointed  President 
of  the  Board  of  Health,  upon  its  creation  in  1869,  and  retained 
the  position  ten  years.  During  his  official  life  as  a  member 
of  the  Board  he  was  an  uncompromising  foe  to  political 
chicanery,  and,  when  public  sentiment  was  excited  and  misled, 
he  protested  against  changes  then  enacted  in  the  law.  This 
he  did  by  appealing  to  the  intelligence  and  honesty  of  the 
people,  and  insisted  upon  resigning  from  the  Board  "as  a  pro- 
test" against  the  new  policy. 

In  1878,  when  the  country  was  panic  stricken  by  the  yellow 
fever  epidemic,  Bowditch  was  chosen  unanimously  as  the  one 
person  fitted  to  cope  with  the  situation,  and  he  was  made  a 
member  of  the  National  Board  of  Health.  Unfortunately  his 
own  health  limited  his  services  to  a  year's  membership  on  the 
Board. 

As  a  physician  and  teacher,  Bowditch  was  eminent.  In 
both  capacities  he  evinced  an  eagerness  to  know  the  latest  and 
best,  and  an  honest,  fearless,  frank  unselfishness  which  made 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  767 

him  a  valuable  counsellor  and  a  trusted  guide.  His  contribu- 
tions to  medical  science  were  many;  some  are  classics.  His 
work  on  paracentesis  is  best  known.  It  was  done  in  1850, 
some  time  after  Morrill  Wyman's  "brilliant  operation"  for 
empyaema.  In  1859  Bowditcb  visited  Europe,  and  there 
advocated  the  operation  for  pleural  effusions  with  such  earn- 
estness that  it  was  generally  adopted  both  in  Great  Britain  and 
upon  the  continent.  In  1850  he  was  a  pioneer  advocate  of 
laparotomy  for  abdominal  and  pelvic  tumors  and  abscesses. 
Other  advanced  thoughts  of  his  dealt  with  the  advisability  of 
specialties  in  medicine,  and  the  propriety  of  women  studying 
medicine. 

Bowditch  resigned  his  professorship  at  the  Medical  School 
on  August  31,  1867.  In  1876  he  was  President  of  the  Ameri- 
can Medical  Association,  whose  meetings  he  constantly  at- 
tended. Among  the  members  he  was  admired  and  popular. 
In  addition  to  all  this,  Bowditch  was  a  member  of  the  Ameri- 
can Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  of  the 
American  Public  Health  Association,  of  the  American  Acad- 
emy of  Medicine,  of  the  Paris  Obstetrical  Society,  of  the 
Paris  Society  of  Public  Hygiene,  of  the  Boston  Society  of 
Natural  History,  of  the  Royal  Italian  Society  of  Hygiene,  of 
the  Association  of  American  Physicians,  of  the  New  York 
Academy  of  Medicine,  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Phy- 
sicians, and  of  the  New  York,  Rhode  Island,  and  Connecticut 
State  Medical  Societies.  Some  idea  of  the  magnitude  of  his 
labors  may  be  gathered  from  the  list  of  his  writings.  They 
include  more  than  ninety  thousand  manuscript  pages  of  rec- 
ords of  private  cases,  ten  printed  pages,  and  sixty-six  pam- 
phlets printed  in  twenty-nine  journals  or  society  transactions. 
with  numberless  short  articles  on  various  subjects.  Among 
the  most  noted  of  his  writings  which  have  come  down  to  US 
are : 

Medical   records  of  every   patient   treated   from    [839  till    1SS7. 


768  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

"  Remarks  on  Dr.  Martyn  Paine's  Unjust  Criticism  of  Louis  and  of 
his  *  Numerical  Method.'  " 

"  Short  Sentences  on  Auscultation." 

'  The  Young  Stethoscopist.  A  Small  Pocket  '  Vade  Mecum  '  for  Stu- 
dents and  Practitioners."     With  plates. 

'  Thoracentesis  in  Pleural  Effusions,"  separate  print,  New  York ;  sepa- 
rate print,  Boston ;  "  Twelve  Years'  Experience,"  before  New  York 
Academy  of  Medicine;  Letters  to  Dr.  Clifford;  Letters  to  Dr.  Holiday, 
Cincinnati ;    Remarks,   Surg.   Section  Am.  Med.   Assoc. ;    "  Dangers,"  etc. 

''  Value  of  Antiseptics  in  Empyema." 

"  Cases  of  an  Anomalous  Development  of  Tubercles  at  the  Base  of  the 
Lung  resembling  Pneumonia."     Separately  printed. 

"  Topographical  Distribution  and  Local  Origin  of  Consumption  in  Mas- 
sachusetts." In  Medical  Communications  of  Mass.  Med.  Soc,  and  sepa- 
rately printed. 

"  Apology  for  the  Medical  Profession  as  a  Means  of  Developing  the 
whole  Nature  of  Man  (as  a  Physical,  Intellectual,  Moral  and  Religious 
Being)."  Address  to  the  students  of  the  Harvard  Medical  School,  and 
published  at  their  request.  With  "  Additional  Remarks  on  a  Topic  of 
Importance  at  the   Present  Hour." 

"  A  Brief  Plea  for  an  Ambulance  System  for  the  Army  of  the  United 
States,  as  drawn  from  the  Extra  Sufferings  of  the  late  Lieutenant  Bow- 
ditch  and  a  Wounded  Comrade." 

"The  Ambulance  System." 

"  Is  Consumption  ever  Contagious  ?  "  A  paper  prepared  for  the  Boston 
Society  for  Medical  Observation. 

"  Cases  of  Perinephritic  Abscess  and  its  Treatment."  Read  before  the 
Boston  Society  for  Medical  Observation. 

"  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Climatology  and  Epidemics  in  Massa- 
chusetts." 

"  Consumption   in   America." 

"Perinephritic  Abscess;    Lung  Disease  and   Pleurisy." 

'  Thoracentisis  and  its  General  Results  during  Twenty  Years  of  Pro- 
fessional Life."  Remarks  made  at  a  meeting  of  the  New  York  Academy 
of  Medicine,  April  7,  1870.     Published  by  order  of  the  Academy. 

"  Private  Medicine  and  the  Physician  of  the  Future."     Separate  print. 

"  Electrolysis  in  Thoracic  Aneurism."  Read  at  a  meeting  of  the  Suffolk 
District  Medical  Society. 

"  Public  Hygiene  in  America."  Centennial  address  before  an  Inter- 
national  Medical   Congress  at   Washington,   D.   C. 

"  Public  Hygiene  in  America,"  being  the  Centennial  Discourse  deliv- 
ered before  the  International  Medical  Congress,  Philadelphia,  September, 
1876,  with  extracts  and  correspondence  from  the  several  States ;  together 
with  a  Digest  of  American  Sanitary  Law  by  Henry  G.  Pickering,  Esq. 


OLIVER   WENDELL   HOLMES. 

A.  B.  1829;  A.  M.  (  Hon.)  1889;  M.  I).  1836;  LL.  I).  1880. 
Parkman    Professor    Anatomy   and    Physiology    1847-1882. 

Emeritus    Professor    1882-1894. 

Dean  Medical  School  1847-1853. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  769 

"Prevention  of  Consumption."  A  series  of  articles  in  the  "Youth's 
Companion." 

'"  The  Aspirator  in  Pleural  Effusions."  Reply  to  Dr.  Ferguson,  of  Troy, 
that  the  operation  ;'  had  done  more  harm  than  good  "  in  its  various  appli- 
cations to  different  parts  of  the  body. 

"  Modern  Thoracentesis  and  Thoracotomy,"  a  paper  prepared  for  Pep- 
per's "  System  of  Medicine,"  and  from  which  Dr.  Donaldson  has  made 
copious  extracts  in  the  preparation  of  his  article  on  "  Affections  of  the 
Pleura."  now  to  be  found  in  the  above  work  by  Dr.  Pepper. 

"  Open  Air  Travel  as  a  Curer  and  Preventive  of  Consumption,  as  seen 
in  the  History  of  a  New  England  Family."  Reprinted  from  the  Trans- 
actions of  the  American  Climatological  Association. 

Henry  L.  Bowditch  died  in  Boston  on  January  14,  1892, 
after  a  life  of  activity  and  usefulness  such  as  for  diversity  of 
interest  and  benefits  to  posterity  has  had  few  equals. 


OLIVER   WENDELL   HOLMES. 

There  are  few  incidents  in  the  history  of  Harvard  College 
more  striking  than  the  election  on  the  same  day,  April  3rd, 
1847,  °f  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  John  Barnard  Swett  Jack- 
son, and  Jeffries  Wyman  to  newly  created  professorships. 
These  men  had  had  many  experiences  in  common.  They 
were  highly  educated  for  the  practice  of  mediate,  yet  none 
of  them  afterwards  practiced  his  profession.  Each  rose  to 
prominence  in  the  science  of  medicine  without  losing  his 
identity  as  a  physican.  With  similar  tastes  and  inclinations, 
each  pursued  a  different  line  of  study,  and  each  reached  the 
highest  point  in  his  own  field.  Any  one  of  them  could  have 
chosen  the  others'  line  of  research  and  lost  nothing  in  glory ; 
and  doubtless  science  would  have  profited  equally.  In  their 
situation  as  teachers  in  the  Medical  School  the  custom  which 
had  hitherto  prevailed  in  the  choice  of  professors  was  broken. 
The  two  Warrens,  Waterhouse,  Dexter,  James  Jackson,  Jacob 
Bigelow  and  Gorham,  were  practitioners,  and  their  fame 
as  wise  and   able  teachers   remains  associated   with    1  tract  ice. 


770  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

There  was  nothing  suggestive  of  the  scientific  alone  in  the 
life  or  works  of  any  of  these  men ;  all  were  what  we  now  call 
'  family  physicians."  The  medical  school  system  under  them 
was,  in  fact,  an  extension  of  the  apprenticeship  method  ap- 
plied on  a  larger  and  more  systematic  plan.  Now,  however, 
a  new  line  of  thought  was  suggested,  and  a  somewhat  novel 
procedure  was  inaugurated.  Students  were  to  be  encouraged 
to  investigate  for  themselves,  to  search  out  the  hitherto  hidden 
secrets  in  the  causes  of  disease.  The  senses  were  to  be  aided 
by  the  microscope;  the  anatomy  and  physiology  and  chemistry 
of  the  human  mechanism  were  to  be  studied  in  comparison 
with  like  structures  and  processes  in  brutes.  Plants  and 
flowers  and  minerals  were  to  be  arranged  in  classes  and  sub- 
classes, according  to  their  qualities  adapted  to  man's  benefit; 
separate  organs  of  the  human  body  were  to  be  studied  min- 
utely, and  then  properly  to  be  classified.  Whether  the  time, 
the  School,  and  the  student  were  all,  or  any  of  them,  ready 
for  the  addition  of  this  new  line  of  instruction  can  best  be 
judged  by  what  I  have  narrated.  Here  let  us  learn  of  the 
men  who  brought  the  new  things,  rather  than  of  their  influ- 
ence on  the  School.  The  first  of  that  trio  is  Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes. 

Holmes  was  born  in  Cambridge,  August  29th,  1809,  tnat 
being  Commencement  Day  at  Harvard  College.  His  father, 
the  Reverend  Abiel  Holmes,  was  minister  of  the  First  Parish 
Church  at  Cambridge  from  1792  to  1831.  His  mother  was 
a  granddaughter  of  a  Dutch  settler,  Jacob  Wendell,  who  came 
to  Boston  from  Albany  early  in  the  eighteenth  century,  and 
married  a  daughter  of  Dr.  James  Oliver.  On  his  paternal  side, 
a  grandfather,  David  Holmes,  was  a  physician  who  served  as 
surgeon  in  the  French  wars  as  well  as  in  the  Revolution. 
Thus  our  Holmes  came  of  an  ancestry  of  physicians,  and  in- 
herited the  names  of  two  of  the  guild.  His  father,  Abiel 
Holmes,  wished  his  son  to  enter  the  ministry  and  sent  him 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  771 

to  Phillips  Academy  at  Andover  (1824).  The  son,  however, 
partook  of  the  vivacious,  sympathetic,  social  instincts  of  his 
mother,  rather  than  the  Calvinism  of  his  father.  Neither  was 
there  in  the  frugality  of  a  minister's  life  anything  to  induce 
him  to  take  up  that  one  of  the  three  professions  offered  to 
educated  youths  of  his  day.  He  spent  one  year  at  Andover, 
hut,  like  the  one  year  spent  later  at  the  law  school,  it  served 
only  to  make  the  choice  of  medicine  more  attractive  in  com- 
parison. He  entered  Harvard  College  in  1825,  and  was 
graduated  with  the  class  of  1829,  a  class  often  referred  to  as 
"  the  famous  Class  of  '29,"  on  account  of  the  unusual  number 
of  its  members  who  became  famous.  The  following  year  he 
spent  at  the  Law  School,  but  the  columns  of  "  The  Collegian  " 
had  more  attraction  for  him  than  had  the  lectures  of  Pro- 
fessors Story  and  Ashnum,  and  one  of  his  contributions,  "  Old 
Ironsides,"  made  him  a  hero  in  his  little  world.  In  the  autumn 
of  1830  Holmes  began  the  study  of  medicine  in  Boston,  first 
at  the  private  school  of  James  Jackson  and  others,  and  then 
at  the  Harvard  Medical  School.  In  April,  1833,  he  went  to 
Europe,  and  continued  his  medical  studies  there  until  Octo- 
ber, 1835;  ne  reached  home  in  December  of  that  year. 

Holmes  could  not  explain  why  he  changed  from  law  to 
medicine.  He  tells  us  that  he  was  drawn  to'  the  mysterious 
and  obscure  "  ever  since  I  payed  ten  cents  for  a  peep  through 
the  telescope  on  the  Common,  and  saw  the  transit  of  Venus." 
Here  is  one  of  his  own  charming  passages : 

'There  is  something  very  solemn  and  depressing  about  the  first  entrance 
upon  the  study  of  medicine  The  white  faces  of  the  sick  thai  till  the  long 
row  of  beds  in  the  hospital  wards  saddened  me,  and  produced  a  feeling 
of  awe-stricken  sympathy.  The  dreadful  scenes  in  the  operating  theatre — 
for  this  was  before  the  days  of  ether — were  a  great  shock  to  my  sensibilil 
though  1  did  not  faint,  as  students  occasionally  do.  When  1  first  entered 
the  room  where  medical  students  were  seated  at  a  table  with  a  skeleton 
hanging  over  it.  and  bones  lying  about,  1  was  deeply  impressed,  and  more 
disposed  to  moralize  Upon  mortality  than  to  take  up  the  task  in  OSteoli 
which    lay   before   me.      It    took    hut    a    short    time    In    wear   off    this    earliesl 


772  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

impression.  I  had  my  way  in  the  world  to  make,  and  meant  to  follow 
it  faithfully.  I  soon  found  an  interest  in  matters  which  at  the  outset 
seemed  uninviting  and  repulsive,  and,  after  the  first  difficulties  and  repug- 
nance were  overcome,  I  began  to  enjoy  my  new  acquisition  of  knowledge." 

Holmes  did  not  take  a  medical  degree  before  he  sailed  for 
Europe.  He  evidently  did  not  think  this  lack  a  serious  handi- 
cap, for  he  writes,  "I  have  found  no  difficulty  whatever  from 
not  having  my  degree.  They  are  not  taken  the  least  notice  of, — 
nobody  uses  the  title  of  Doctor,  and  I  would  not  give  a  copper 
for  any  advantage  it  would  give  me."  Those  letters  of  his 
illuminate  some  of  the  dark  old  medical  centres :  "It  is  no 
trifle  to  be  a  medical  student  in  Paris.  I  had  attended  a  lecture 
of  an  hour  and  a  half,  and  gone  through  a  tedious  dissection 
this  morning  before  breakfast — that  is,  I  left  my  bed  at  half 
after  six,  and  did  not  sit  down  to  breakfast  till  after  eleven." 
Later  he  writes,  "I  am  more  and  more  attached  every  day  to 
the  study  of  my  profession.  *  *  *  The  whole  walls  round 
the  Ecole  de  Medecine  are  covered  with  notices  of  lectures, 
the  greater  part  of  them  gratuitous;  the  dissecting-rooms, 
which  accommodate  six  hundred  students,  are  open  ;  the  lessons 
are  ringing  aloud  through  all  the  great  hospitals." 

Again,  he  writes  of  Louis,  "of  serene  and  grave  aspect,  but 
with  a  pleasant  smile  and  kindly  voice  for  the  student  with 
whom  he  came  into  personal  relations ;  modest  in  the  presence 
of  nature,  fearless  in  the  face  of  authority,  unwearying  in  the 
pursuit  of  truth,  he  was  a  man  whom  any  student  might  be 
happy  and  proud  to  claim  as  his  teacher  and  friend."  "Andral 
was  by  far  the  most  eloquent  and  popular."  "Brotissais  was 
like  an  old  volcano,  which  has  pretty  much  used  up  its  fire  and 
brimstone,  but  is  still  boiling  and  bubbling  in  its  interior,  and 
now  and  then  sends  up  a  spurt  of  lava  and  a  volley  of  pebbles." 
Lisfranc  was  evidently  not  to  Holmes'  liking,  for  he  writes, 
"I  can  say  little  more  of  him,  than  that  he  was  a  great  drawer 
of  blood  and  hewer  of  members;"  and  of  Baron  Larrey,  Napo- 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  773 

leon's  famous  surgeon,  "Short,  square,  substantial  man  with 
iron-gray  hair,  rudely  face  and  white  apron.  To  go  round  the 
Hotel  des  Invalides  with  Larrey  was  to  live  over  the  campaigns 
of  Napoleon,  to  look  on  the  sun  of  Austerlitz,  to  hear  the  can- 
non of  Marengo,  to  struggle  through  the  icy  waters  of  the 
Beresina,  to  shiver  in  the  snows  of  the  Russian  retreat,  and  to 
gaze  through  the  battle  smoke  upon  the  last  charge  of  the  red 
lancers  on  the  redder  fields  of  Waterloo."  At  the  Hotel  Dieu 
the  great  Dupuytren  was  in  his  zenith ;  "A  square,  solid  look- 
ing man,  with  a  fine  head,  soft-spoken,  undemonstrative,  unless 
opposed  or  interfered  with,  when  he  would  treat  his  students, 
I  have  heard,  as  a  huntsman  does  his  hounds."  Ricord,  "viva- 
cious *  *  *  the  Voltaire  of  pelvic  literature,  who  would 
have  submitted  Diana  to  treatment  with  his  mineral  specifics, 
and  ordered  a  course  of  blue  pills  for  the  vestal  virgins."  Vel- 
peau  "looked  as  if  he  might  have  wielded  the  sledge-hammer 
rather  than  the  lancet." 

With  Holmes  in  Paris  were  Henry  I.  Bowditch,  J.  Mason 
Warren,  Waldo  Emerson,  James  Russell,  Hooper,  and  Greene. 
He  spent  much  of  his  time  while  in  Europe  at  the  Ecole  de 
Medecine,  and  under  Louis  at  La  Pitie.  He  was  able  also  to 
travel  and  his  letters  describing  peoples,  places  and  events  show 
us  those  times. 

For  Holmes,  as  for  most  other  students  in  medicine  who 
visited  Paris  then,  Louis  was  the  central  figure.  Favored  by 
the  good  impression  created  on  Louis  by  the  younger  James 
Jackson,  Holmes  found  the  great-teacher  a  friend  as  well  as 
an  instructor.  It  is  probably  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  the 
medical  students  of  that  date  revered  Louis  almost  to  idolatry. 
H< ilmes'  letters  from  Paris  during  those  student  days  are  full 
of  historical  observations,  interwoven  with  biographical 
sketches  of  the  more  celebrated  teachers  in  that  great  school. 
Besides  Louis,  Holmes  studied  under  Andral,  Broussais,  Lis- 
franc.  Baron  Larrey,  Dupuytren,  Ricord,  and  Boyer.     Even  if 


774  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

we  had  not  Holmes'  own  assurance  that  he  was  "more  and 
more  determined  to  do  what  I  can  to  give  my  own  country  one 
citizen  among  others  who  has  profited  somewhat  by  the  ad- 
vantages offered  him  in  Europe,"  we  might  be  sure  that  that 
quick-witted,  keen  observer,  and  earnest  worker  would  bring 
home  more  than  one  mind's  share  of  intellectual  fruit  for  the 
benefit  of  other  workers.  Remember  the  difference  in  the 
anatomy  laws  at  this  period  in  France  and  in  America.  The 
tale  is  told  in  another  chapter.  Suffice  it  to  state  that  in  France 
dissection  was  allowed  in  full  measure,  while  in  America  the 
only  method  by  which  bodies  could  be  procured  was  by  body- 
snatching.  Holmes  was  schooled  in  Paris,  and  we  see  the 
impress  of  Paris  reflected  fifty  years  later  at  the  opening  of 
the  new  building  for  the  Harvard  Medical  School,*  on  that 
occasion  the  younger,  and  some  of  the  older  members  of  the 
Faculty,  influenced  no  doubt  by  a  recent  agitation  concerning 
supposed  abuses  in  dissection,  took  every  precaution  that  the 
public  should  not  inspect  the  dissecting  room.  To  their  confu- 
sion the  venerable  teacher  not  only  dwelt  with  great  plainness, 
upon  the  question  of  dissection,  but  actually  invited  his  aud- 
ience to  visit  the  dissecting-room. 

In  one  of  his  letters  §  from  Paris  (dated  April  30th,  1834) 
Holmes  gives  the  following  account  of  his  first  year's  stay 
there : 

"My  aim  has  been  to  qualify  myself  so  far  as  my  faculties  would 
allow  me,  not  for  a  mere  scholar,  for  a  follower  of  other  men's  opinions, 
for  a  dependent  on  their  authority,  but  for  the  character  of  a  man  who 
has  seen,  and  therefore  knows;  who  has  thought  and  therefore  has 
arrived  at  his  own  conclusions  ...  I  am  perfectly  certain  that  I 
might  have  lived  until  I  was  gray  without  acquiring  the  experience 
I  have  gained  in  part,  and  hope  still  farther  to  improve  by  changing  the 
scene  of  my   life  and  Studies." 

*  Boylston  Street  Medical   School    Building,  dedicated   1883. 
§  From    "Life    and    Letters    of    Oliver    Wendell    Holmes,"    by   John    T. 
Morse,  Jr.,  vol.  I,  pp.  130-31. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  775 

In  a  letter  of  Sept.  3,  1834,  he  writes: 

"I  am  just  going  to  become  a  member  of  a  society  of  medical  observa- 
tion, which  comprehends  some  of  the  most  intelligent  young  French  and 
foreign  students.  I  have  free  access  to  the  wards  of  M.  Louis,  a  favor 
which  he  has  granted  only  to  a  few  ;  .  .  .  I  am  devoted  to  my  pro- 
fession, and  wish  to  return  second  to  no  young  man  in  it." 

Concerning  this  Society  he  writes  later,  "my  belonging  to 
the  Society  *  *  *  brings  me  into  contact  with  young 
men  in  confidential  stations  in  most  of  the  hospitals,  lays  their 
experience  before  me,  and  puts  me  under  the  obligation  to  be 
exact,  methodical,  and  rigorous."  In  a  letter  of  May  14th, 
1835,  he  speaks  of  turning  his  attention  to  operations,  and 
says  that  the  supply  of  anatomical  material  is  so1  good  that 
"one  who  knows  how  to  use  his  hands,  and  who  gives  his  atten- 
tion exclusively  to  the  subject  for  a  time,  may,  as  I  have  said 
I  have  done,  become  an  expert  operator  in  a  few  weeks."  Such 
was  his  equipment  for  his  new  position  in  the  Medical  School. 
He  arrived  home  in  December,  1835,  and  in  1836  was  gradu- 
ated M.  D.  at  Harvard. 

If  the  publication  of  "Old  Ironsides,"  "The  Last  Leaf,"  and 
other  poems  had  a  tendency  to  militate  against  his  gaining 
footing  in  private  practice,  such  literary  interests  did  not  turn 
him  from  medical  studies.  He  won  the  Boylston  prize  three 
years  in  succession,  and  was  physician  at  the  Massachusetts 
General  Hospital  for  three  years.  In  1838  he  was  "mightily 
pleased"  to  receive  the  appointment  as  Professor  of  Anatomy 
at  Dartmouth  College.  This  position  he  held  during  1839  and 
1840.  In  1838  he  helped  to  start  a  private  medical  school  in 
Boston.  In  this  he  was  associated  with  H.  J.  Bigelow,  E. 
Reynolds,  and  D.  H.  Storer.  and  the  school  became  known  as 
the  Tremont  Street  School.  Its  relations  with  the  Harvard 
School  have  been  sketched  in  the  chapter  on  Private  Medical 
Schools.  Holmes'  special  branch  of  teaching  there  was  the 
Practice  of  Medicine,  and  his  ability  as  a  lecturer  and  teacher 


776  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

in  that  branch  has  always  been  praised  by  his  many  pupils. 
While  at  the  Tremont  School,  Holmes  and  Bigelow  published 
a  book  on  the  "Practice  of  Medicine."  They  prepared  this  by 
taking  Marshall  Hall's  "Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine," 
and  enlarging,  correcting  and  improving  it. 

It  was  in  1843  tnat  Holmes  published  his  essay  on  the  "Con- 
tagiousness of  Puerperal  Fever."  Before  that,  his  "Medical 
Essays"  had  given  him  a  local  reputation  as  a  trenchant  writer 
on  medical  topics ;  now,  however,  he  showed  an  originality  in 
thought  and  research  which  brought  him  into  international 
prominence.  In  the  face  of  fierce  and  abusive  contradictions 
to  the  young  writer  by  old  and  accepted  authorities  on  obstet- 
rical practice,  one  sees  Holmes  using  that  same  calm,  logical, 
convincing,  clean-cut  line  of  argument  which  leaves  no  doubt 
in  the  mind  of  his  readers  as  to  the  reasonableness  and  sound- 
ness of  his  case,  for  he  silences  contention.  One  of  his  aphor- 
isms was  that  it  was  better  to  prove  something,  than  partly  to 
prove  many  things.  If  Holmes  never  proved  anything  other 
than  the  contagiousness  of  puerperal  fever,  posterity  owes  him 
a  debt.  So  it  will  be  seen  that  he  was  a  strong  candidate  for 
one  of  the  new  professorships  created  in  the  School. 

On  April  3rd,  1847,  Holmes  was  appointed  Parkman  Pro- 
fessor of  Anatomy  and  Physiology  in  the  Harvard  Medical 
School ;  in  addition  to  these  subjects  he  often  gave  instruction 
in  microscopy  and  in  psychology.  In  1871  his  title  was 
changed,  and  the  "whole  settee,"  as  he  was  wont  to  term  his 
manifold  duties,  became  a  "chair,"  the  Parkman  Professorship 
of  Anatomy.  Holmes  graciously  and  honorably  filled  it  until 
his  resignation  on  November  20th,  1882,  when  he  was  made 
Emeritus.  During  this  period  of  thirty-five  years  of  contin- 
uous service  at  the  School,  Holmes  was  Dean  from  1847  to 
T853;  University  Lecturer  in  1863-64;  and  Overseer  of  Har- 
vard College  from  1876  to  1882. 

This  new  professor  in  the  Medical  School  belonged  to  the 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  777 

Brahmin  caste,  as  he  used  to  call  it ;  he  was  schooled  under  the 
best  masters  of  Europe ;  he  had  enjoyed  the  highest  advantages 
abroad  and  at  home  for  acquiring  that  practical  knowledge 
best  fitted  to  supplement  his  scientific  tastes;  he  was  a  faithful 
anatomist ;  a  writer  with  few  equals ;  an  entertaining  and  fas- 
cinating teacher,  with  a  charming  personality.  Indeed  he  was 
a  great  drawing  card. 

In  my  wide  search  for  material  for  this  history  of  our  School, 
I  have  interviewed  alumni  ranging  from  the  oldest  living  grad- 
uate* down  to  the  youngest  teachers  in  the  School.  Of  the 
many  reminiscences  given  me,  none  surpass  in  number,  sweet- 
ness and  enthusiasm  those  of  Holmes'  old  pupils.  No*  general 
estimate  would  satisfy  them  or  do*  him  justice.  Some  speak 
of  his  witty,  bright,  cheerful  disposition,  which  robbed  the  dry 
study  of  anatomy  of  its  weariness ;  some  learned  their  lesson 
from  his  plain,  concise,  unpretentious  homilies ;  others  from  his 
exact,  clean-cut,  well  chosen,  scholarly  rhetoric;  some  were 
able  to  satisfy  their  conscience  as  practitioners  of  medicine  with 
the  outlines  of  anatomy  and  physiology  as  taught  by  Holmes; 
others  found  in  him  the  embryologist,  the  histologist  and  the 
microscopist  far  in  advance  of  his  time.  Some  few,  like  R.  M. 
Hodges,  D.  W.  Cheever,  Thomas  Dwight,  C.  B.  Porter,  H.  H. 
A.  Beach,  and  M.  H.  Richardson,  were  privileged  to  serve 
him  as  assistants. 

Holmes  was  a  good  anatomist.  He  strove  incessantly,  both 
by  the  preparation  of  his  own  dissections  and  by  the  constant 
study  of  authors,  to  give  his  pupils  the  best.  To  the  lay  reader 
who  finds  it  difficult  to  reconcile  the  supposed  hard-hearted 
anatomist  with  the  genial,  sympathetic,  poetical  medical  stu- 
dent who  failed  as  a  general  practitioner  on  account  of  his 
sensibility  to  the  sufferings  of  others,  this  estimate  may  appear 
paradoxical.     To  such  let  me  say  that  such  a  view    lacks  per- 

*  Samuel  L.  Abbot,   A.   B.   i8.}8,  M.  D.   18.11.  died  July   1st,   1004. 


778  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

spective.  Holmes  loved  the  study  of  anatomy,  and,  tempting 
as  must  have  been  the  promises  held  out  to  him  from  other 
sources,  he  steadfastly  adhered  to  it.  He  did  more;  he  gave 
freely,  generously,  and  often  to  the  gatherings  of  his  fellows 
in  Medicine  those  gifts  which  were  refused  to  eager  would-be 
purchasers.  Osier  puts  it  truly  when  he  says  of  Holmes :  "He 
will  always  occupy  a  unique  position  in  the  affections  of  med- 
ical men.  Not  a  practitioner,  yet  he  retained  for  the  greater 
part  of  his  active  life  the  most  intimate  connection  with  the 
profession.  *  *  *  The  festivals  at  Epidaurus  were  never 
neglected  by  him  ;  and  as  the  most  successful  combination  which 
the  world  has  ever  seen  of  the  physician  and  the  man  of  let- 
ters, he  has  for  years  sat  amid  the  Aesculapians  in  the  seat  of 
honor." 

Holmes  was  not  a  great  anatomist  or  a  great  scientist;  his 
success  as  a  teacher  was  due  in  large  degree  to  this  fact.  He 
might  easily  have  become  either,  had  he  been  less  generously 
diffuse.  As  a  teacher  he  was  careful,  conscientious,  punctual 
and  painstaking.  He  was  clear,  with  a  remarkable  fund  of 
wit  and  humor  which  won  for  him  the  title  of  "the  best  lecturer 
on  anatomy  of  his  time  in  this  country."  No  other  lecturer 
could  hold  the  attention  of  a  wearied  and  turbulent  class  of 
students  in  the  fifth  consecutive  hour  of  daily  lectures,  as 
Holmes  could  hold  them.  "Even  over  the  dry  bones,  his  wit 
sparkled  ;  his  similes  and  imagery  delighted  the  crude  and  often 
rough  youths  before  him  ;  his  courtesy,  his  patience,  his  amiable 
temper,  subdued  them  into  comparative  quietude  and  even  at- 
tention. It  was  his  rule  always  to  address  himself  to  the  lower 
rather  than  to  the  higher  half  of  the  class,  as  Professor  Dwight 
says,  it  being  a  part  of  his  humanity  to  do  so."  He  was  al- 
ways the  scholar ;  whether  as  lecturer,  post-prandial  speaker, 
writer,  philosopher  or  wit,  he  never  failed  to  leave  the  mark 
of  his  attainments.  Few  were  as  well  able  as  he  to  trace  much 
of  our  present  knowledge,  especially  in  anatomy,  back  to  the 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  779 

old  masters,  whose  true  worth  he  recognized.  Hear  him  talk 
about  those  ancients,  follow  his  description  of  their  writings 
and  their  illustrations,  accompany  him  through  a  copy  of  Al- 
bums, of  Vesalius,  of  Bedloe,  or  of  Mascagni,  and  you  may 
appreciate  his  remark  accompanying  the  gift  of  his  library  to 
the  Boston  Medical  Library  Association :  "These  books  were 
very  dear  to  me  as  they  stood  upon  my  shelves.  A  twig  from 
some  one  of  my  nerves  ran  to  every  one  of  them.  From  the 
time  when  I  first  opened  Bell's  'Anatomy'  to  that  in  which  I 
closed  my  Sharpey  and  Ouain  and  my  Braithwaite's  'Retro- 
spect' they  marked  the  progress  of  my  studies  and  stood  before 
me  as  the  stepping-stones  of  my  professional  life.  I  am  pleased 
that  they  can  be  kept  together,  at  least  for  the  present ;  and  if 
any  of  them  can  be  to  others  what  many  of  them  have  been  to 
me,  I  am  glad  to  part  with  them,  even  though  it  cost  me  a 
little  heartache  to  take  leave  of  such  old  and  beloved  compan- 
ions." 

Holmes'  love  for  the  old  masters  was  inherited.  His  father 
had  been  a  poetaster,  and  wrote  "Annals  of  America,"  a  useful 
volume  of  historical  research.  Acquaintance  with  such  work 
taught  the  son,  in  his  various  undertakings,  an  accurate  and 
painstaking  method  which  is  not  usually  associated  with  the 
quick,  rapid,  almost  intuitive  mind  of  the  wit  and  genius.  He 
was  one  of  the  earliest  microscopists  in  this  country,  and  a 
good  one.  He  was  fortunate  in  securing  one  of  the  few  micro- 
scopes in  Paris,  and  he  brought  it  home  with  him.  He  fitted 
up  a  special  room  in  the  North  Grove  Street  building  and  gave 
special  instruction.  Thomas  Dwight  says  of  him,  in  this  con- 
nection, that  he  "took  the  greatest  interest  in  the  manufacture 
of  the  microscope,  speaking  always  enthusiastically  of  its  dis- 
covery and  successive  perfections.  *  *  *  In  1847  he 
made,  or  certainly  believed  that  he  made,  a  discovery  of  cells 
in  bone,  which  he  showed  at  a  meeting  of  the  Society  for 
Medical  Observation.     'T  was  on  the  look-out,'  he  wrote  me  in 


780  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

1889,  'for  bone-cells,  in  the  medical  journals  and  books,  and 
found  nothing  until  about  two  years  after  my  discovery  of 
these  (from  the  cancelli  of  the  neck  of  the  human  adult  femur). 
M.  Robin  described  some  cells  which  he  had  found  not  corre- 
sponding very  well  with  mine.'  The  last  note  which  I  ever 
received  from  him,  dated  May  30th,  1894,  was  to  request  me 
to  find  the  pictures  which  he  had  had  made  of  these  cells." 

Holmes  early  gave  up  the  practice  for  the  science  of  med- 
icine. Even  if  fortune  had  favored  the  aspirations  he  ex- 
pressed in  the  Paris  letters,  it  is  doubtful  whether  he  would 
have  continued  in  practice.  Cheever.says  of  him  in  this  con- 
nection :  "Too  sympathetic  to  practice  medicine,  he  soon  aban- 
doned the  art  for  the  science,  and  always  manifested  the  same 
reverence  for  death,  and  tenderness  for  animals.  When  it  be- 
came necessary  to  have  a  freshly-killed  rabbit  for  his  lecture, 
he  always  ran  out  of  the  room,  left  me  to  chloroform  it,  and 
besought  me  not  to  let  it  squeak." 

In  the  Faculty  deliberations  he  was  both  progressive  and 
conservative.  In  the  important  changes  inaugurated  in  1870 
he  was  at  heart  in  favor  of  new  things,  but  he  was  timid  as  to 
the  losses  and  dangers  of  radical  measures,  although  not 
strongly  opposed.  The  following  letter  of  his  to  J.  L.  Motley, 
in  December,  1872,  is  a  good  pen-picture  of  the  state  of  mind 
of  the  older  men  in  the  Faculty  at  that  time : 

"Firstly,  then,  our  new  President  Eliot,  has  turned  the  whole  Uni- 
versity over   like  a   Rap-jack.     There  "never   was  such  a  bouleversement 

as  that  in  our  Medical  Faculty.  The  Corporation  has  taken  the  whole 
management  of  it  out  of  our  hands  and  changed  everything.  We  are  paid 
salaries,  which  I  rather  like,  though  1  doubt  if  we  gain  in  pocket  by  it. 
We  have,  partly  in  consequence  Ol  outside  pressure,  remodelled  our  whole 
course  of  instruction.  Con  equentlj  we  have  a  smaller  class,  but  hctter 
students,  each  of  whom  pays  more  than  under  the  old  plan  of  manage- 
ment. It  is  curious  to  sec  a  young  man  like  Eliot;  a  grave,  calm,  digni- 
fied presence,  taking  the  ribbons  of  our  classical  coach  and  six,  feeling 
the  horses'  mouths,  putting  a  check  on  this  one's  capers,  and  touching 
that   one   with   the   lash,— turning   up   everywhere,    in   every    Faculty    (I 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  781 

belong   to   three),    on    every   public    occasion,   at    every    dinner   orne,    and 
taking  it  all  so  naturally,  as  if  he  had  been  born  President." 

At  the  dedication  of  the  new  building,  for  a  school  in  keep- 
ing with  the  advances  inaugurated,  Holmes  was  the  orator, 
October  17,  1883,  and  said  : 

"  To  one  of  the  great  interests  of  society,  the  education  of  those  who 
are  to  be  the  guardians  of  its  health,  the  stately  edifice  which  opens  its 
doors  to  us  for  the  first  time  today  is  devoted.  It  is  a  lasting  record 
of  the  spirit  and  confidence  of  the  young  men  of  the  medical  profession, 
who  led  their  elders  in  the  brave  enterprise,  an  enduring  proof  of  the 
liberality  of  the  citizens  of  Boston  and  of  friends  beyond  our  narrow 
boundaries,  a  monument  to  those  who,  a  hundred  years  ago,  added  a 
School  of  Medicine  to  our  honored,  cherished,  revered  University." 

In  regard  to  another  important  question  discussed  about  this 
time, — the  admission  of  women  to  the  Medical  School — 
Holmes  voted  with  the  majority  in  the  negative,  although  many 
of  his  public  utterances  seem  to  make  it  appear  that  he 
was  in  favor  of  coeducation :  "I  have  always  felt  that  this 
(nursing)  was  rather  the  vocation  of  women  than  general 
medical,  and  especially  surgical  practice,  yet  I  myself  followed 
the  course  of  lectures  given  by  the  young  Madame  Lachapelle 
in  Paris;  and  if  here  and  there  an  intrepid  woman  insists  on 
taking  by  storm  the  fortress  of  medical  education,  I  would 
have  the  gates  flung  open  to  her,  as  if  it  were  that  of  the  citadel 
of  Orleans  and  she  were  Joan  of  Arc  returning  from  the  field 
of  victory."  Further  than  this  he  affirmed,  "that  he  was  will- 
ing to  teach  women  anatomy,  but  not  with  men  in  the  same 
classes;  and,  above  all,  that  he  should  insist  on  two  dissecting 
rooms,  which  should  strictly  separate  the  sexes."  Probably, 
on  this  question  as  in  the  administration  controversy,  he  was  a 
passive  sympathizer  rather  than  an  active  partisan. 

Holmes  became  a  memlier  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical 
Society  in  1836;  he  was  anniversary  chairman  in  1852,  and 
delivered   the   annual    discourse   in    i860,   on   "Currents   and 


782  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Counter-Currents  in  Medical  Science."  This,  with  his  paper 
on  "Homeopathy  and  Kindred  Delusions,"  aroused  a  great 
deal  of  feeling.  At  the  Centennial  Anniversary  Dinner  of  the 
Society  in  June,  1881,  he  read  a  poem.  He  received  from 
Harvard  College,  besides  his  A.  B.  (1829)  and  M.  D.  (1836), 
the  honorary  degree  A.  M.  (1889)  and  LL.  D.  (1880.)  In 
1886  he  went  to  Europe,  when  Edinburgh  took  the  opportunity 
to  confer  upon  him  the  LL.  D. ;  Cambridge  gave  him  the  Litt. 
Doc.  and  Oxford  the  D.  C.  L.  degree.  The  warmth  of  hos- 
pitality extended  to  him  during  this  visit  is  courteously  recog- 
nized in  his  "One  Hundred  Days  in  Europe." 

On  June  27th,  1874,  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts 
incorporated  the  Boston  Medical  Library  Association.  Holmes 
was  one  of  the  six  original  incorporators,  and  when  the  Society 
took  form  on  August  20th,  1875,  he  was  elected  president. 
He  continued  in  that  office  until  1888.  In  his  address  dedi- 
catory of  the  new  building,  December  3rd,  1878,  Holmes  evi- 
dently spoke  the  dictate  of  his  heart,  when  he  said : 

"  A  scholar's  library  is  to  him  what  a  temple  is  to  the  worshipper  who 
frequents  it.  There  is  the  altar  sacred  to  his  holiest  experiences.  There  is 
the  font  where  his  new-born  thought  was  baptized  and  first  had  a  name  in 
his    consciousness.      There    is    the    monumental    tablet    of    a    dead    belief, 

sacred   still    in   the   memory   of   what   it    was    while  yet   alive 

every  volume  has  a  language  which  none  but  he  can  interpret.  Be 
patient  with  the  book-collector  who  loves  his  companions  too  well  to 
let  them  go.  Books  arc  not  buried  with  their  owners,  and  the  veriest 
book-miser  that  ever  lived  was  probably  doing  far  more  for  his  successors 
than  his  more  liberal  neighbor  who  dispised  his  learned  or  unlearned 
avarice.  Let  the  fruit  fall  with  the  leaves  still  clinging  round  it.  Who 
would  have  stripped  Southey's  walls  of  the  books  that  filled  them, 
when,  bis  mind  no  longer  callable  of  taking  m  their  meaning,  he  would 
still  pat  and  fondle  them  with  the  vague  loving  sense  of  what  they  had 
once  been  to  him, — to  him,  the  great  scholar,  now  like  a  child  among  his 
playthings?  " 

Twenty-three  years  later  the  Association  dedicated  the  beau- 
tiful reading  room  in  its  present  building  to  the  memory  of 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  783 

their  first  president.  On  retiring  from  teaching  Holmes  gave 
to  the  Association  his  valuable  library  of  old  anatomical  and 
medical  books,  and  later  made  it  the  residuary  legatee  of  a 
liberal  bequest. 

In  1857  came  the  turning  point  in  Holmes'  life.  From  then 
his  time  and  thoughts  were  to  turn  more  and  more  to  literature, 
and  less  to  science.  The  "Autocrat,"  and  not  the  discourse  on 
puerperal  fever,  numbers  him  with  the  immortals ;  though  it 
is  impossible  to  separate  the  poet  from  the  scientist.  His 
poetry  and  prose  show  the  training  of  his  mind  in  physiology 
and  psychology,  his  medical  addresses  and  writings  show  him 
as  the  scholar  and  the  wit.  Any  discussion  of  his  purely  liter- 
ary work  is  impossible  here.  From  the  time  he  became  asso- 
ciated with  James  Russell  Lowell  (1857)  m  building  the  "At- 
lantic Monthly''  upon  the  ruins  of  "Putnam's  Magazine,"  his 
rise  in  fame  was  constant,  rapid  and  permanent.  His  best 
known  writings  are :  "The  Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast  Table," 
1857;  "The  Professor,"  i860;  "The  Poet,"  1872,  and  "Over 
the  Teacups,"  1890,  besides  many  essays.  His  first  volume 
of  poems  was  issued  in  1836;  and  other  volumes  in  1846,  1849 
and  1850;  "Songs  in  Many  Keys,"  1861  ;  "Humorous  Poems," 
1865;  "Songs  of  Many  Seasons,"  1874;  "The  Iron  Gate," 
1880;  "Before  the  Curfew."  1888.  In  fiction,  he  gave  us 
"Elsie  Venner,"  1861  :  "The  Guardian  Angel,"  1865  ;  "A  Mor- 
tal Antipathy,"  1885;  "One  Hundred  Days  in  Europe,"  1887. 
For  biography  he  published  "Memoirs  of  John  Lothrop  Mot- 
ley," 1887;  "Life  of  Emerson,"  1884;  "Pages  from  an  Old 
Volume  of  Life,"  and  "Medical  Essays."  Here  are  some 
verses  which  he  read  at  a  medical  club  supper  about  the  year 
1846  :* 

"  This  evening  hour,  which  grateful  memory  spares 
From  evening  toil  and  unrequited  care; 
These  curling  lips,  these  joy-revealing  eyes, 

*  Boston    Medical   and   Surgical   Journal,   Oct.    n.    1894. 


784  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

These  mirthful  tones,  re-echoing  as  they  rise; 
These  friendly  pledges  on  this  festive  shrine. 
The  glistening  goblet  and  the  flowing  wine ; 
This  genial  influence  which  the  coldest  heart 
Warms  to  receive  and  opens  to  impart : — 
Mock  the  poor  Art,  who  does  her  subjects  wrong, 
And  steals  from  Pleasure  all  she  wastes  in  song. 
Yet  since  you  ask  this  feeble  hand  to  strew 
Wreathes  on  the  flowers  and  diamonds  on  the  snow 
Take  all  it  bears,  and,  if  the  gift  offend. 
Condemn  the  Poet, — spare,  oh,  spare,  the  friend. 

'  Yes,  while  I  speak  some  magic  wand  appears, 
Shapes  the  long  past  (Oh,  say  not  happier)  years. 
Ye  lawless  fancies,  yet  untaught  to  know 
The  charms  of  reason,  or  the  scourge  of  woe ; 
Ye   boyish   dreams,   now   melting   into  air; 
Ye  virgin  forms,  alas,  no  longer  fair ; 
Ye  scattered  friends,  with  many  a  tear  resigned, 
Once  all  our  own,  now  mingled  with  mankind, 
Since,  save  in  memory,  ye  appear  no  more 
In  the  bright  Present,  let  the  Past  live  o'er. 
Still  in  the  heart  some  lingering  spark  remains — 
You  cannot  chase  it  from  the  shrinking  veins. 
Grief  comes  too  early,  Pleasure  ne'er  too  late. 
Snatch  the  fair  blossom  whatsoe'er  it  slate. 
If  youth  still  charm  thee,   mirth  is  justly  thine; 
If  age  has  chilled  thee — In!    the  generous  wine. 

"  Oh,  thoughtless  revellers,  when  you  set  my  task 
How  little  dreamed  you  of  the  toil  you  asked — 
How  shall  I  please  you  ?     I,  a  grave  young  man 
Who  fate   is  drudgery  on  "  the  useful  plan." 
How  can  I  coax  you,  smooth  you,  comb  you  down. 
And  cheat  your  frontals  of  that  awful  frown? 
Portentous  scowl,   which   marks  in   every  age 
The  blistering,  clystering,  tooth-extracting  sage. 
A  verse  too  polished  will  not    stick  at  all  ; 
The  worst  back-scratcher  is  ;i  billiard  ball. 
A  rhyme   too   rugged   would  not  hit  the  point, 
Its  loose  legs  wriggling  m  and  out  of  joint. 
Shall  I  be  serious,  touching,  lachrymose. 
Mix  tears  with  wine  and  give  you  all  a  dose? 
But  wcll-fil'cd   stomachs  have  not   room   for  grief, 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  785 

"  For  sips  and  sighs — for  porter  and  roast-beef. 
Shall  I  be  learned,  and  with  punch  and  claw 
Dig  stumps  of  Greek  from  every  Ancient's  jaw? 
But  who  quotes  Cuvier  when  he  feasts  on  snipe, 
Or  reads  Gastritis  when  his  wife  cooks  tripe? 
Not  all  the  wisdom  of  recorded  time 
Can   change  one  tidbit  to  concocted  chyme. 
Not  all  the  schools  from  Berkshire  to  the  Nile 
Can  melt  one  sausage  into  milky  chyle. 
Nor  all  the  Galens  since  Deucalion's  flood 
Change  lifeless  pudding  into  living  blood. 


:<  Our  noble  Art,  which  countless  shoals  invade, 
Some  as  a  science,  many  as  a  trade. 
In  every  column   quackery  has  its   line  ; 
From  every  corner  stares   the   doctor's   sign ; 
From  every  shore  the  straining  vessel  tugs 
Ill-centered  balsams,   stomach-turning  drugs; 
The  keels  of  commerce  clear  the  farthest  surge 
Lest  some  old  beldam  want  her  morning  purge. 
The  seaman  wanders  on  his  venturous  route 
To  turn  a  baby's  stomach  inside  out. 
Rich   were  the  Queen  of  yon  hepatic  isle 
With  half  her  subjects  squander  on  their  bile; 
Rich  were  Van  Buren  could  he  pay  his  bills 
With  half  his  people  waste  on  "  Brandreth's  Pills, "- 
Or  with  their  products  fill  his  farmers'  carts 
With  tare  and  tied  for  reproductive  parts. 


"  Heaven  surely  ordered,  on  creation's  morn, 
This  mighty  law — that  children   must  be  born. 
Hence  came  the  science  thou  dost  show  so  well 
With  white  forefinger,  Madame  Lachapelle. 
Hence  came  the  forceps,  hence  the  screw  to  pinch 
The  soul's  own  viscus  down  to  half  an  inch. 
Hence  came  the  weapons  which  the  embryos  In  ire 
Left  in  the  lurch,  their  brains  escaped  before. 
(A  trivial  change — since  so  oft   we  find 
That  babes  grown  up  have  left  their  brains  behind. 
Hi  nee  came  the  fillet,  whence  the  infant  wretch 
Mistakes  the  midwife   for  her  friend  Jack  Ketch. 


786  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Hence  came  the  lever,  which  the  toothless  fry 
Take  for  a  crow  bar,  when  the  monsters  pry. 
Hence  the  scoop  pinchers  with  the  fang  between 
Skull-crnshing  Davis — thy  divine  machine. 
Hence  all  the  "  claptraps  "  potent  to  extract 
The  hero,  struggling  in  his  closing  act. 

"  So  the  stout  fetus,  kicking  and  alive 
Leaps  from  the  fundus  for  his  final  dive : 
Tired  of  the  prison  where  his  legs  were  curled. 
He  pants  like  Rasselas,  for  a  wider  world. 
No  more  to  him  there  wanted  joys  afford 
The  fringed  placenta  and  the  knotted  cord  ; 

"  No  longer  liberal  of  his  filial  thanks, 
He  drums  his  minutes  on  his  mother's  flanks. 
But  nobly  daring  seeks  the  air  to  find 
Thro'  paths  untrodden,  in  spite  of  waves  or  wind. 
Hush :    decent  Muse,  and  leave  such  things  as  these 
To  modest  Maygrier  and  concise  Dewees. 


"  Thus  with  the  entrance  of  the  first-born  man 
The  reign  of  science  o'er  the  earth  began  ; 
Nurse  of  his  weakness,  soother  of  his  woes, 
She  waits  and  watches  till  his  sorrows  close. 
Nor  yet  she  leaves  him  when  the  undying  mind 
Flits  from  his  clay  and  leaves  the  frame  behind. 

"  If  thou  shouldst  wonder  that  mankind  must  die 
Ask  the  Curator  of  our  Museum,  Why? 
Were  man  immortal,  who  had  ever  seen 
The  stomach,  colon,  kidneys,  pancreas,  spleen? 
Each  pickled    discus,  every   varnished  bone, 
Seducing  schirrus  and  attractive  stone, 
Lost  to  the  world,  had   never  come  to  grace 
Our   well-filled   phials   in   their   padlocked   case. 
Unknown  to  fame  had   Morgagni  sighed, 
And   Louis  floated  down  oblivion's  tide, 
On   r.nni'.ierV  glands  no  cheering  ray  had  shone, 
And  Peyer  claimed  no  patche  save  his  own. 
Science,  untaught   her  scalpel   to  employ, 
Had  seen  no  ileum  since  the  days  of  Troy; 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  787 

And  man  the  ruler  of  the  storms  and  tides, 
Had  groped  in  ignorance  of  his  own  insides. 
Thus  the  same  art  that  caught  our  earliest  breath 
Lives  with  our  life  and  lasts  beyond  our  death. 
Man,  ever  curious,  still   would  seek  to  save 
Some  wreck  of  knowledge  from  the  waiting  grave. 
Yet,  keen-eyed  searcher  into   Nature's  laws 
Slight  not  the  suffering  while  thou  recks't  the  cause. 
How  poor  the  solace,  when  thy  patients  die 
To  tell  the  mourners  ALL  the  reason  why. 
Love  linked  with  knowledge  crowns  thy  angel  art, 
Gold  buys  thy  science; — Heaven  rewards  thy  heart. 

"  Between  two  breaths,  what  words  of  anguish  lie ; 

The  first  short  gasp,  the  last  and  long-drawn  sigh. 

Thou  who  hast  aided,  with  coercive  thumbs, 

The  red-legged  infant,  kicking  as  it  comes; 

Thou  who  hast  tracked  each  doubtful  lesion  home 

With  probe  and  scissors,  knife  and  enteretome ; 

Short  is  the  opening ;    short  the  closing  scene  ; 

But  a  long  drama  fills  the  stage  between. 

Nor  deem  it  strange — since  every  reason  flings 

Its  sun  or  cloud  on  life's  unguarded  springs  ; 

Since  song  or  science,  love  of  fame  or  truth, 

All  feed  like  vampires  on  the  brow  of  youth  ; 

Since  the  red  goblet  shakes  the  hand  that  grasps, 

And  hot-cheeked  beauty  wastes  the  form  she  clasps — 

One-half  mankind  should  spend  their  time  to  make 

The  pills  and  draughts  the  other  half  must  take. 

Oil,  fertile  source  of  never-failing  wealth, 

Mysterious  Faith,  thou  alchemist  of  health. 

But  for  thy  wand,  how  vainly  should  we  strive 

To  cure  the  world  and  keep  ourselves  alive. 

Not  all  the  fruit  the  yellow  harvest  yields, 

When  the  curved  sickle  sweeps  the  rustling  fields; 

Not  all  the  stores  the  deep-sunk  vessel  brings, 

When  India's  breezes  swell  her  perfumed  wings ; 

Not  all  the  gems  whose  wild  Auroras  shine 

Thro'  the  black  darkness  of  Golconda's  mine. 

Can  match  the  profits  thou  dost  still  dispense 

To  thy  best  favorites, — Ease  and  impudence; 

Who  find  Golconda  in  a  case  of  gout. 

Or  rich  Potosi  in  a  baby's  clout. 
******  *  *  *  *  * 


788  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

"  Small  is  the  learning,  which  the  patients  ask, 
When  the  grave  Doctor  ventures  on  his  task. 
To  greet  the  Quack  admiring  hundreds  come, 
Whose  wisdom  centres  in  his  fife  and  drum. 
Why  shouldst  thou  study,  if  thou  canst  obtain 
A  wig,  a  gig,  an  eye-glass  or  a  cane? 
Greenest  of  greenhorns ;    know  that  drugs  like  these 
Are  the  best  weapons  to  subdue  disease. 
Shouldst    thou    not    flourish   by   enacting   lies, 
Step  into  print,  good  friend,  and  advertise ; 
And  in  the  "  Post,"  the  "  Herald,"  or  the  "  Sun  " 
Thus  let  thine  honest  manifestoes  run  : 
That  great  physician,  learned  Dr.  C, 
F.  R.  S.,  Staff-Surgeon,  and  M.  D. 
Lately  from  London  ;    now  at  number  four 
Left  side  of  North  St.  (Don't  mistake  the  door) 
May  be  consulted  for  life's  various  ills : 

"  Where's  also  sold  the  patent  "  Pickwick  Pills." 
What  grieves  the  Doctor  is,  that  all  mankind 
To  their  own  good  should  be  so  shocking  blind. 
He  could  not  stand  it,  but  relief  imparts 
The  grateful  feeling  of  a  thousand  hearts. 
His  fee  is  nothing;    'tis  his  conscious  skill. 
Backed  by  the  virtues  of  the  "  Pickwick  Pill," 
That  prompts  the  Doctor  to  dispense  his  cure 
To  all  mankind  and  also  to  the  poor. 
What  is  dyspepsia?    When  the  humors  vile 
The  cardiac  sphincter  closes  on  the  bile. 
What  cures  dyspepsia?     Why  the  doctor's  skill 
(Consult  by  letter  and  enclose  a  bill). 

********* 

"  Of  testimonies  which  have  come  in  heaps 
But  two  .small  cartloads  now  the  doctor  keeps. 
They  were  too  numerous   for  the  public  eyes; 
Hence  the  small  number  which  he  now  supplies. 
John  Smith,  of  Boston,  aged  thirty-five, 
Is  much  surprised  to  find  himself  alive, 
Which  justly  owing,  as  he  thinks  must  be, 
Half  to  his  Maker ;— half  1o  Dr.  C, 
Had  a  stuffed  feeling;    used  to  wake  in  starts; 
Had  wind  and  rumbling  in  his  inward  parts. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  7«9 

Had  swelled  stomach;    used  to  vomit  some; 

Was  often  squeamish;  thought  his  brains  were  numb; 

Had  fell  away ;    could  not  digest  his  food ; 

Had  tried  all  physic,  nothing  did  him  good. 

In  short,  was  dying  with  numerous  ills, 

CURED  BY  THREE  DOSES  OF  THE  '  PICKWICK  PILLS.' 

"  The  doctor's  skill,  the  sluggard  clergy  owns, 
As  in  the  note  from  Reverend  Judas  Jones. 
Dear  Sir :     The  blessing  of  the  Lord  attend 
You  and  your  ointment  called  '  the  loafer's  friend.' 
My  worthy  wife,  the  partner  of  my  toils, 
Like  Job  of  old,  has  suffered  from  the  '  boils ;' 
Some  on  her  fingers,  wherewithal  she  knits, 
Some  upon  her  person,  whereupon  she  sits, 
Which  quite  unfit  her  when  her  ail  returns 
To  do  her  duties  by  her  small  concerns. 
Since  times  are  hard  and  earthly  comforts  dear, 
And  gospel  harvests  come  but  once  a  year, 
With  my  good  deacon  I  resolved  to  halve 
One  precious  box  of  your  unrivalled  salve. 
With  heaven's  kind  blessing  and  one  hearty  rub 
We  chased  away  this  leprous  Beelzebub. 
Enough  was  left  to  cure  our  warts  and  styes. 
And  six  great  pimples  on  my  housemaid's  thighs. 
Please  send  three  boxes,  by  the  earliest  hand, 
To  Judas  Jones,  your  servant  at  command. 
P.  S.     Your  pills  have  cured  my  baby's  fits ; 
I'll   write  particulars  if  the  Lord  permits. 

"The  following  letter  sent  to  Dr.  C, 
Comes  from  Barrabas  Waterpot,  M.  D. 
Dear  Sir :     The  duties  which  I  owe  mankind 
Have  made  it  proper  that  1  speak  my  mind ; 
And  while  my  breast  an  honest  conscience  fills, 
I  can  but  praise  the  patent  '  Pickwick  Pills.' 
I  have  no  interest  in  the  pills  at  stake. 
And  never  sell  them,  and  but  rarely  take. 
Fit   for   the   welfare  of  a   suffering   race, 
Their  many  virtues  T  now  feebly  trace; 
When  taken  fasting  they  the  strength  maintain; 
When  on  full  stomach  they  deplete  the  brain. 
One  pill  relieves  the  most  drowning  thirst : 


790  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Two  keep  one  sober  tho'  he  drink  to  burst ; 
One  pill  a  week  cures  phthisis  and  the  gout, 
One-half  a  pill  will  keep  the  measles  out ; 
Rubbed  on  the  fingers  they  destroy  the  itch, 
Worn  next  the  skin, — lumbago  and  the  stitch ; 
Tho'  like  a  corkscrew  they  the  bowels  search, 
A  curious  fact, — they  never  work  in  church; 
Small  children  take  them  with  advantage  great, 
And  also  ladies  in  a  certain  state. 
In  short,  this  medicine  every  want  fulfills ; 
I  give  no  physic  but  the  '  Pickwick  Pills.' 
Please  print  this  letter  which  of  use  may  be, 
(Signed)   Barrabas  Waterpot,  M.  D. 

"  Here's  a  small  postscript  Doctor  C.  left  out 
(Of  small  importance  to  the  public,  no  doubt). 
The  pills  sell  briskly — twenty  gross  or  more — 
Send  a  fresh  parcel  to  the  grocer's  store ; 
Put  in  more  jalap;  never  mind  expense, 
Folks  must  be  griped  or  grudge  the  fifty  cents. 
Put  up  three  sizes ;    one  three  times  as  small, 
For  little  brats  ;    the  big  ones  kill  them  all. 
I  want  my  pay,  you  poison-pounding  knave, 
Send  me  good  bills, — how  like  the  d — 1  you  shave. 

"  All  this  well  printed  and  with  bigger  type 
Words  like  DYSPEPSIA,  LIVER,  HUMOR,  GRIPE,- 
Two  solid  columns  in  the  "Times '  would  fill, 
And  make  thy  fortune  by  the  '  Pickwick  Pill.' 
But  thou,  poor  dreamer,  who  hast  rashly  thought 
To  live  by  knowledge  which  thy  bloom  has  bought, 
Thou  who  hast  waited  with  a  martyr's  smile, 
Hope  gently  whispering — 'Yet  a  while' — 
Too  proud  to  stoop  thy  noble  aim, 
Too  poor  to  pay  the  price  of  tame  ; 
Thou  all  unfriended,  while  a  thousand  fools 
Vaunt  their  raw  cousins  reeking  from  the  schools ; 
Go,  scorn  the  art  that  every  boon  denys 
Till  age  sits  glassy  in  thy  sunken  eyes; 
Go,  scorn  the  treasury  which  withholds   its   store 
Till  hope  grows  cold,  and  blessings  bless  no  more. 

"  Peace  to  our  banquet,  let  us  not  prolong 
Its  dearest  moments  with  my  idle  song. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  791 

This   measured   tread   of   evermarching   rhyme, 
Like  clock-work,  pleases  only  for  a  time, 
Too  long  repeated,  makes  our  hearts  so  sick 
We  cut  the  weights  to  stop  its  tedious  click. 
Let  sweeter  strains  our  opening  hearts  inspire, 
The  listening  echoes  tremble  round  the  lyre. 
Dance,  Bacchus.     Hours  of  labor  come  again 
To  lock  the  rivets  of  our  loosened  chain. 
Shine,  star  of  evening,  with  thy  steadiest  ray 
To  guide  us  homeward  on  our  devious  way." 

It  is  hard  to  see  how  Holmes  was  able  successfully  to  carry- 
on  such  an  amount  of  work  in  addition  to  his  duties  at  the 
Medical  School.  His  versatility  was  an  unceasing  marvel. 
It  has  been  claimed  that  if  he  had  patented  his  ingenious  stethe- 
scope  he  would  have  been  rich.  He  would  never  admit  that  he 
was  growing  old.  At  the  Medical  School  his  lectures  were 
rearranged  each  year,  and  he  was  constantly  abreast  of  the 
times.  All  this  meant  thought  and  effort,  especially  to  Holmes, 
with  his  long-standing  asthma.  So  he  went  on  until  October 
5th,  1882,  when  he  gave  the  first  intimation  of  intention  to 
sever  his  connection  with  the  School.  In  a  letter  to  S.  Weir 
Mitchell  he  wrote : 

"  I  have  not  lold  you  that  I  am  very  soon  to  resign  my  professorship. 
I  have  been  thinking  of  it  for  some  time,  and  very  lately  received  a 
proposal  from  my  publishers  so  tempting  that  I  could  not  resist  it.  I 
hold  on  for  a  couple  of  months  to  give  the  faculty  and  the  Corporation 
of  the  University  time  to  look  round  for  some  one  to  complete  the  courses 
1  have  begun.  Thirty-five  years  here — this  is  my  thirty-six  course — 
two  vears  Professor  at  Dartmouth, — that  is  long  enough,  isn't  it?  They 
say  they  don't  want  me  to  give  up,  but  I  had  rather  spend  whatever 
days  are  left  me  in  literary  pursuits." 

To  Fordyce  Barker  he  wrote : 

"I  am  glad  to  look  forward  to  rest  from  my  official  duties  as  Professor. 
I  say  look  forward,  fur  they  wanl  me  to  lecture  a  little  longer,  at  any 
rate,  and  I  shall  hold  on  until  about  Thanksgiving  time.  I  should  have 
liked,  on  some  accounts,  to  lecture  two  or  three  years  longer.  We  have 
a  grand  new  College  building  about  live  minutes  walk  from  my  house. 
My  colleagues  do  nol  seem  to  be  tired  of  me,  and  my  duties  have  been 
made    most    agreeable    to    me    in    every    respect.     ...     I    shall    have    a 


792  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

* 

freedom  I  shall  be  glad  of,  and  shall  write  when  I  feel  disposed — which, 
I  think,  will  be  pretty  often  when  I  have  no  routine  dirties  to  keep  up — 
a   steady   drain   on  my  vital   resources." 

The  age  of  seventy-three  years  might  justify  any  man  for 
wishing  to  retire  from  duties  as  arduous  and  exhausting  as 
teaching  and  lecturing,  yet  we  find  our  genial  teacher,  essayist, 
poet,  wit  and  physician,  laying  aside  these  duties  so  that  he 
might  take  on  others. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Harvard  Corporation,  November  20th, 
1882,  it  was  voted  :  '"That  Dr.  Holmes'  resignation  be  ac- 
cepted in  accordance  with  his  wishes;  but  that  the  University 
loses  with  great  regret  his  services  as  a  learned,  faithful  and 
interesting  teacher;  and  his  personal  presence  and  influence 
as  a  distinguished  man  of  letters."  Holmes  was  made  Emeri- 
tus Professor  of  Anatomy. 

The  following  sonnet  was  written  by  him  in  1882  for  a 
meeting  of  the  Harvard  Club  of  New  York : 

"  ALMA    MATER." 

''  Yes,  home  is  sweet !    and  yet  we  needs  must  sigh, 
Restless  until  our  longing  souls  have  found 
Some  realm  beyond  the  fireside's  narrow  bound 

Where  slippered  ease  and  sleepy  comfort  lie, — 

Some   fair   ideal   form   that   cannot   die, 
By  age  dismantled  and  by  change  uncrowned, 
Else    life   creeps   circling   in    the    self-same    round, 

And    the   low   ceiling   hides    the   loftj    sky. 

A.h,  then   to  thee  our  truant  hearts  return. 

Dear   Mother,   Alma   Casta, — spotless,   kind! 
Thy  sacred  walls  a  larger  home  we  find, 

And   still   for  thee  thy   wandering  children  yearn. 

While    with    undying   fires    thine   altars    burn 

Where   all   our   holiest   memories   rest   enshrined." 

Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  died  in  Boston,  October  7th,  1894. 
The  many  expressions  of  love,  admiration,  respect  and  condo- 
lence which  followed  would  easily  furnish  material  for  a  me- 
morial of  the  man.     Here  are  a  few  from  sources  varied,  yet 

all  within  the  field  of  this  writing: 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  793 

"  To  say  that  in  Dr.  Holmes  America  has  lost  her  greatest  physician 
is  not  one  of  the  exaggerations  to  which  men  are  prompted  in  expressing 
their  grief  over  a  recent  death.  We  have  not  in  mind  only  his  contri- 
hutions  to  medical  science  and  literature,  which,  although  overshadowed 
by  his  work  in  general  letters,  were  many  and  important,  but  we  are 
thinking  of  that  wider  province  of  the  physician  that  lies  beyond  the 
laboratory  and  the  drug-shop,  the  hospital  and  the  consulting-room. 

"  We  doubt  whether  in  the  long  period  of  Dr.  Holmes'  activity  any 
other  English  writer  has  done  so  much  for  the  health  of  the  minds  of 
his  readers ;  and  his  readers  embraced  all  classes.  Rich  and  poor,  old 
and  young,  learned  and  unlearned,  found  in  his  pages  something  that  they 
could  understand,  and  the  understanding  of  which  bettered  them  mentally 
and  morally.  And  this  highest  praise  that  a  writer  can  have,  namely, 
that  the  best-equipped  readers  found  the  most  profit  and  entertainment 
in  his  writings,  is  universally  conceded  to  Holmes. 

"'  We  were  about  to  say  that  his  was  a  simple  nature ;  and  the  state- 
ment would  have  been  true  in  the  one  sense  that  the  meretricious  in 
literature  or  in  life  repelled  him;  but  his  intellect  was  subtle  and  com- 
plex as  civilization.  Science,  art,  nature,  philosophy  were  all  his,  and 
all  left  their  impress  upon  him.  Cosmopolitan  sympathy  and  experience 
modified  and  were  modified  by  the  effects  of  Puritan  ancestry  and  old- 
time  New  England  training.  In  his  complex  make-up  there  is  no  doubt 
that  his  medical  studies  and  teaching  exerted  a  dominant  influence.  In 
the  felicitous  poem  read  by  Dr.  Weir  Mitchell  to  the  College  of  Physi- 
cians of  Philadelphia  on  the  occasion  of  the  presentation  to  that  body  of 
a  portrait  of  Holmes,  Minerva  and  Apollo  are  represented  as  contending 
for  and  at  last  agreeing  to  divide,  the  lad.  But,  unless  we  concede  that 
medicine  as  well  as  poetry  belongs  to  Apollo,  we  must  hold  Minerva  to 
have  obtained  the  '  biggest  half '  in  the  division. 

"  Dr.  Holmes  never  lost  sight  of  his  profession,  and  never  allowed  the 
world  to  lose  sight  of  it.  Throughout  Ins  writings,  from  'The  Fly  in  the 
Stethoscope'  to  the  good  natured  raillery  at  a  too-exclusive  specialism 
in  '  Over  the  Tea-cups,'  he  did  not  hesitate  to  hit  at  its  weaknesses  and 
foibles :  while,  apart  from  the  admirable  characters  in  his  novels,  he 
has  in  many  noble  passages  pictured  the  life  and  influence  of  the  true, 
modest,  self-sacrificing  doctor  in  terms  of  the  highest   appreciation." 

"  His  greatesl  work  was  his  essay  on  'The  Contagiousness  of  Puen 
Fever,'  read  before  the  Boston  Society  for  Medical  Improvement  in  1842, 
of  which  he  subsequently  wrote:  'When,  by  permission  of  Providence, 
I  held  up  to  the  professional  public  the  damnable  facts  connected  with  the 
conveyance  of  poison  from  one  young  mother's  chamber  to  another's — ■ 
for  doing  which  humble  office  I  desire  to  be  thankful  that  1  have  h 
though  nothing  else  good  should  ever  come  out  of  my  life — T  had  to  bear 
the  sneers  of  those  whose  position   I  had  assailed,  and.  as  T  believe,  have 


794  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

at  last  demolished,  so  that  nothing  but  the  ghosts  of  dead  women  stir 
among  the   ruins.' "' 

11  The  death  of  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  must  necessarily  appeal  with 
particular  force  to  all  who  follow,  as  he  followed,  the  profession  of  healing. 
While  the  purely  literary  world  is  lamenting  the  loss  of  the  brilliant 
essayest,  the  delicate  poet,  the  spontaneous  humorist,  the  ever-sympathetic, 
ever-appreciative  colleague,  we  are  lamenting  in  him  the  medical  man  of 
letters.  In  so  doing  we  are  not  debarred  from  admiring  sincerely,  even 
fervently,  his  great  and  fascinating  qualities,  but  it  is  in  his  character 
of  a  physician  that  he  makes  special  appeal  to  us.  And  this  is  the  more 
right  that  it  is  in  the  character  of  physician  that  he  himself  makes 
many  of  his  most  intimate  claims  upon  the  attention  and  affection  of  his 
readers.  The  medical  men  of  letters  are  a  comparatively  small  band. 
The  names  of  Smollett.  Thomas  Browne  and  John  Brown  at  once  occur 
to  us ;  Keats  and  Goldsmith  both  served  an  apprenticeship  to  our  art ; 
and  more  than  one  living  physician  is  a  good  as  well  as  a  popular  novelist ; 
but  the  union  of  medicine  and  letters  is  rare.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes 
was  not  only  an  example  of  this  rare  class,  but  in  many  respects  he 
was  a  unique  example ;  for  in  him  the  physician — now  as  anatomist  or 
physiologist,  now  as  psychologist,  now  as  diagnostician — was  ever  present 
and  ever  speaking.  He  wrote  no  book  without  drawing  largely  upon  his 
scientific  experience;  he  displayed  in  all  his  literary  workmanship,  in 
thought  as  much  as  in  expression,  an  accurate  tolerance — a  capability  of 
taking  the  large  view,  with  a  resolve  to  be  correct  about  small  things— 
that  we  make  bold  to  say,  as  he  would  often  proudlv  say,  had  been  largely 
developed  by  his  particular  training;  and  many  of  his  wittiest  little 
parables  and  paraphrases — many  of  the  most  characteristic  sayings  of 
those  three  charming  rulers  of  tin-  break  fast-table — were  the  direct  out- 
come of  his   medical  learning. 

"5*  sic  omnes!  For  the  public  nowadays  is  suffering  from  a  surfeit 
of  medicine  in  its  literature.  Heredity  and  the  transmission  of  physio- 
logical or  psychological  taints;  sexual  problems;  problems  in  mental  path- 
ology form  the  essence  of  the  work  of  a  large  school  of  writers.  Some- 
times the  work  is  well  done  and  sometimes  extremely  ill  done.  Now 
and  again  the  great  romancer  will  by  a  few  illuminating  words  supply  a 
real  contribution  to  the  scientific  side  of  psychology;  more  often  we  are 
asked  to  solace  ourselves  after  the  day's  work  with  long-drawn  questions 
pruriently  put  and  left  unanswered  by  a  string  of  pompous  deductions. 
And  so  we  say:  Ah,  if  all  were  like  the  Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast  table! 
Would  that  all  our  advanced  novelists  would  recognize  first,  that  it  is 
necessary  to  know  before  instructing  and  to  see  before  leading,  if  the 
ditch  is  to  be  avoided;  and,  second,  that  there  is  wisdom  in  restraint  and 
an  art  in  remaining  silent — that  furihund  descriptions  of  animalism,  if 
accurate,   are   inappropriate    in    general    literature,   and   that    to   display   to 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  795 

common  gaze  a  dissection  of  the  morbid  imaginings  of  the  sick  mind  may 
be  an  act  of  positive  indecency.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  was  a  man 
who  knew.  Whither  he  would  lead,  his  readers  might  always  be  content 
to  follow  without  fear  of  the  ditch.  His  science  was  sound,  his  wisdom 
indubitable,  and  his  powers  of  observation  and  introspection  were  the 
acutest.  And  how  did  he  use  them?  Not  by  shirking  the  responsibilities 
laid  upon  him  by  his  possession  of  exceptional  knowledge,  as  great  men 
have  before  now  done  through  fear  of  giving  offence ;  on  the  contrary, 
his  whole  work  is  pervaded  by  his  particular  learning.  And  not  by  per- 
sistently presenting  to  the  mental  eye  the  dissected  body  or  the  sick 
soul,  the  charnel  house,  the  bordel,  or  the  asylum ;  on  the  contrary,  his 
multifarious  writings  are  absolutely  free  from  the  taint  of  nastiness. 
Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  used  his  beautiful  endowments  in  the  highest  way 
for  the  good  of  all,  neither  burying  his  talents  nor  prostituting  them. 
He  was  removed  by  a  lovable,  modest,  sympathetic  nature  from  all  possi- 
bility of  writing  the  harmful;  he  was  removed  by  a  true  and  highly 
cultivated  artistic  sense  from  the  common  error  of  spoiling  a  picture  by 
overloading  it  with  unnecessary  details ;  lastly,  and  chiefly,  he  was  removed 
by  his  assured  place  as  a  man  of  scientific  education,  undoubted  learning, 
and  equally  undoubted  literary  genius  from  all  temptation  to  medical  or 
linguistic  display.  From  this  position,  with  the  conscientiousness  of  the 
skilled  workman  and  the  unpremeditated  charm  of  the  poet,  he  poured 
out  broad  lessons  of  human  sympathy  and  preached  a  genial,  yet  shrewd, 
gospel   of  kindliness." 

"As  a  medical  poet  he  is  unique;  and  both  in  his  poems  and  in  his 
prose  the  medical  training  and  intellectual  bias  stand  for  a  good  deal. 
I  hope  some  one  will  do  justice  to  this  aspect  of  him.  He  sang  the 
praises  of  Lowell  in  a  noble  poem.  Who  is  to  sing  in  a  like  manner 
his  own  ?  " 

"  The  praise  of  Wendell  Holmes,  the  writer,  the  charming  poet,  the 
inimitable  causeur,  the  delightful  humorist,  whole  wit  circum  prcecordia 
loudit,  is  in  the  mouths  of  all  men;  his  niche  in  the  Temple  of  Letter^ 
needs  no  stone  of  our  fashioning  to  complete  it.  The  splendor  of  his 
literary  fame,  however,  has  somewhat  dazzled  the  eyes  of  his  more  recent 
contemporaries  to  the  excellence  of  the  work  which,  in  his  earlier  days  li«' 
did  for  his  profession  and  for  science.  Any  work  done  by  Wendell  I  [olmes 
was  sure  to  he  brilliant,  but  it  is  a  striking  proof  of  the  versatility  of  his 
powers  that  his  scientific  work  was  as  solid  as  if  he  had  been  (lie  dullest 
Dryasdust  that  ever  dissected  the  muscles  of  the  hack  or  counted  tin- 
markings  on  the  different  members  of  the  pediculus  family.  In  a  medical 
journal  it  is  fitting  that  this  aspect  of  Wendell  Holmes1  many  sided 
genius — which  ha--,  as  was  natural,  received  only  imperfect  recognition 
from   most   of  our  contemporaries — should   be  briefly   dwelt   upon." 


796  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

"  Proud  as  we  are  to  think  of  him  as  a  member  of  our  profession,  and 
proud  as  we  are  of  his  achievements  in  it,  we  realize  that  his  great  work 
in  life  had  more  to  do  with  making  people  better  spiritually  than  making 
them  well  physically.  Physician  by  education,  he  devoted  himself  to 
practice  and  the  acquisition  and  imparting  of  scientific  knowledge.  Poet 
by  nature,  he  spent  his  leisure  time  and  declining  years  in  those  writings 
which  have  so  endeared  him  wherever  they  have  been  read.  Philosopher 
by  thoughtful  study  and  love  of  his  fellow-man,  he  made  for  many  life's 
path  less  rugged  by  kind  and  philanthropic  words,  and  when  his  own 
long  path  brought  him  toward  life's  foot-hills  he  was  content  and  said, 
'  he  should  sorrow  deeply  if  he  had  the  idea  he  was  to  become  helpless 
in  body  and  mind.'  This  was  spared  him.  He  reached  the  end,  '  eighty- 
five  years  young,'  as  he  expressed  it,  and  happily  met  death  as  a  little 
child  meets  sleep,  unconscious  of  fatigue,  and  only  mindful  of  a  day 
more   full  of  pleasures  than  of  pain." 

"  Dr.  Holmes  was,  whilst  his  vigor  lasted,  always  ready  to  respond  with 
his  pen  to  appeals  for  obituary  notices  of  deceased  friends  and  profes- 
sional brothers  of  less  fame  than  himself.  These  notices  were  always 
kindly,  generous  and  graceful  as  well  as  just  and  discriminating.  He 
has  left  behind  him  no  enemies  and  hosts  of  warm  admirers  who  during 
his  life  guarded  not  that  'ungenerous  silence  which  leaves  all  the  fair 
words  of  honestly-earned  praise  to  the  writer  of  obituary  notices  and  the 
marble  worker.'  He  himself  needs  no  obituary.  But  we  shall  long  con- 
tinue to  revive  our  recollections  of  those  former  days  when  he  was 
with  us." 

Bibliography  of  Holmes'  Writings  on   Medical  and  Scientific 

Subjects. 

(In  "  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal.") 

"An  Introductory  Lecture,"  delivered  at  the  Massachusetts  Medical 
College,   November   13.   1X47,   vol.   xxxviii,   1847,  p.   384. 

"  Microscopic  Preparations,"  vol.   xlviii,   [853,  p.  337. 

"Lines  Written  for  the  Eighth  Anniversary  of  the  American  Medical 
Association,"  vol.  Hi,  1853,  p.  305. 

"The  Dental   Cosmos    (Review  of),"   vol.   viii,  n.   s.,  p.  99. 

"Valedictory  Address  t"  the  Medical  Graduates  of  Harvard  University." 
March  10,  1858,  vol.  lviii.   [858,  p.    14a 

"Rip  Van  Winkle,  M.  D. :  An  After-Dinner  Prescription  taken  by 
the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  at  their  meeting  held  May  25.  1870," 
vol.   lxxxii,   1870,  p.  444. 

"Address  at  the  Commencement  Exercise^  of  the  Dental  Department  in 
Harvard  University,"  February  14.  1X72,  vol.  Ixxxvi,  1872,  p.  331. 

"  The  Physiology  of  Versification."  vol.  xcii,  1875,  pp.  6-9. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  797 

"  Joseph  Warren,  M.  D."     A  Poem.     Vol.  xcii,  1875,  P-  7°3- 

"  Letter  on  Dr.  J.  B.  S.  Jackson,"  vol.  xcv,  1876,  pp.  393-395. 

"  An  Address  delivered  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Boston  Micro- 
scopical Society,"  vol.  xcvi,  1877,  p.  601. 

"  Letter  to  Dr.  George  E.  Ellis,"  vol.  civ,  1881,  p.  593. 

"  Poem  written  for  the  Centennial  Anniversary  Dinner  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Medical  Society,"  June  8,  1881,  vol.  civ,  1881,  pp.  577-580. 

"  Speech  on  occasion  of  the  Presentation  of  a  Portrait  of  Dr.  J.  B.  S. 
Jackson  to  the  Boston  Medical  Library  Association,"  vol.  civ,  1881, 
pp.  560-561. 

(In  '*  North  American  Review.") 

"  The  Mechanism  of  Vital  Actions,"  July,  1857. 
(In  "  New  England  Quarterly  Journal  of  Medicine  and  Surgery,"  Boston.) 

"  Contagiousness  of  Puerperal   Fever,"  vol.   i,   1843,  p.  503. 

(In  "  Proceedings  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences.") 

"  On  the  Use  of  Direct  Light  in  Microscopical  Researches,"  and  a  model 
by  him  of  a  newly-invented  horizontal  microscopical  apparatus  as  figured, 
vol.   ii,   pp.  326-332. 

(In  vol.  iv,  pp.  373-375,  the  term  "Reflex  Vision"  is  proposed  as  a 
phrase  proper  to  certain  original  optical  experiments,  an  account  of  which 
is  given.) 

"  Edward  Stafford's  Medical  Directions  written  for  Governor  Winthrop 
in    1643,   with   Notes  by   O.   W.   Holmes."     Boston.      1862. 

"Teachings  from  the  Chair  and  at  the  Bedside."  An  Introductory 
Lecture  delivered  before  the  Medical  Class  of  Harvard  University,  No- 
vember 6,  1867.     Boston  :    David  Clapp  &  Son.     1867. 

"  Talk  Concerning  the  Human  Body  and  its  Management."  Atlantic 
Almanac,  [868.  (Dr.  Holmes  was  joint  editor  of  this  annual  with  Donald 
G.  Mitchell.) 

"  The  Medical  Profession  in  Massachusetts :  A  Lecture  read  at  the 
Lowell  Institute,  January  29,  1869."  Publications  of  the  Mass.  Hist. 
Soc.     1869. 

"The  Young  Practitioner:  A  Valedictory  Address  delivered  to  the 
Graduating  Class  of  the  Bellevtie  Hospital  College,  March  2,  1871."  New 
York  Medical  Journal.  April,  187 1. 

"The  Medical  School,"  the  chapter  on,  in  the  Harvard  Book,  vol.  1. 
Cambridge:     Welch  &  Bigelow.     1875. 

"Visions:  A  Study  of  False  Sight."  By  Edward  Hammond  Clarke, 
M.  D.  With  an  Introduction  and  Memorial  Sketch  by  Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes,  M.  D.     Boston  :    Houghton,  Osgood  &  Co.     1878. 

"Medical  Libraries:  An  Address  delivered  at  the  Dedication  of  the 
Hall  of  the  Boston  Medical  Library  Association  on  December  3.  1878. 
Cambridge:"     The  Riverside  Press.     1881. 


798  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

"  Medicine  in  Boston :"  Additional  Memoranda  in  Memorial  History 
of  Boston.    Vol.  iv,  Chap.  x.     Boston:    James  R.  Osgood.     1881. 

Single   Publications  and   Pamphlets. 

"  On  Indigenous  Intermittent  Fever  in  New  England ;"  on  "  Neuralgia ;" 
on  "  Direct  Exploration ;"  Boylston  Prize  Dissertations  for  the  years 
1836  and  1837.  Dedicated  to  Pierre  Cha.  Alex.  Louis.  Doctor  of  Medi- 
cine of  the  Faculties  of  Paris  and  St.  Petersburg.  Boston:  Little  & 
Brown.     1838. 

"  Marshall  Hall's  Principles  of  the  Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine.'' 
First  American  Edition,  revised  and  enlarged  by  Jacob  Bigelow  and 
O.  W.  Holmes.  Boston.     1839. 

"  Homeopathy  and  its  Kindred  Delusions."  Two  Lectures  delivered 
before  the  Boston  Society  for  the  Diffusion  of  Useful  Knowledge.  Boston : 
William   D.   Ticknor.      1842. 

'  The  Position  and  Prospects  of  the  Medical  Student."  An  Address 
delivered  before  the  Boylston  Medical  Society  of  Harvard  University, 
January  12,  1844.     Boston :    John  Putnam,  Printer.     1844. 

Report  of  the  Committee  on  Medical  Literature :  Transactions  of  the 
American  Medical  Association.     Vol.  i,  1847. 

'  The  Benefactors  of  the  Medical  School  of  Harvard  University :  with 
a  biographical  sketch  of  the  late  Dr.  George  Parkman."  An  introductory 
lecture  delivered  at  the  Massachusetts  Medical  College,  November  7, 
1850.     Boston :     Ticknor,  Reed  &  Fields.     1850. 

"  Currents  and  Counter  Currents  in  Medical  Science."  An  Address 
delivered  before  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  at  the  Annual  Meet- 
ing, May  30,  i860.    Boston.    Ticknor  &  Fields,     i860. 

"  Border  Lines  of  Knowledge  in  Some  Provinces  of  Medical  Science." 
An  Introductory  Lecture  delivered  before  the  Medical  Class  of  Harvard 
University,  November  6,  1861.     Boston:   Ticknor  &  Fields.     1862. 

"  Sonnet  written  for  the  Annual  Dinner  of  the  Harvard  Club,  New 
York,  February  21,  1882."     Vol.  cvi,  1882,  p.  187. 

"Medical  Highways  and  Byways;"  a  Lecture  delivered  before  the 
students  of  the  Medical  Department  of  Harvard  University,  May  10, 
1882.     Vol.  cvi,  1882,  p.  505. 

"  Farewell  Address  to  the  Medical  School  of  Harvard  University, 
Tuesday,  November  28,  1882."     Vol.  cvii.   1882,  p.  529. 

•  The  Xi'u  Century  and  the  New  Building  of  the  Medical  School  of 
Harvard  University."     Vol.  cix,  1883.  p.  361. 

Letter  from  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  to  Dr.  Fordyce  Barker  on  his 
gnation  of  the  office  of  President  of  the  New  York  Academy  of 
Medicine.     Vol.  cxii,  1885,  p.  105. 

Address  before  the  Boston  Medical  Library  Association  at  the  formal 
presentation  of  his  medical  library,  January  29,  1889.     Vol.  exx,  p.  129. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  799 

Editorial  Remarks  on  Medical  Highways  and  Byways  (from  Medical 
Times  and  Gazette,  London).     Vol.  cvii,   1882,  p.  331. 

Editorial  Remarks  in  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal.  Dr.  Oliver 
Wendell  Holmes'  Resignation  of  the  Parkman  Professorship  of  Anatomy 
in  Harvard  University.     Vol.  cvii,  1882,  p.  426. 

Account  of  his  Farewell  Lecture  to  the  Students  of  the  Harvard  Med- 
ical School,  November  28,  1882.  (Presentation  of  a  Loving  Cup  by  the 
students  and  his  letter  to  the  donors.)     Vol.  cvii,  1882,  p.  546. 

A  Reception  to  Drs.  Holmes  and  Bigelow.    Vol.  cviii,  1883,  p.  22. 

A  Toast  from  Dr.  Fordyce  Barker  to  Drs.  Holmes  and  Bigelow. 
Vol.  cviii,   1883,  p.  22. 

Appointment  of  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  Emeritus  Professor  of 
Anatomy  in  Harvard  University.     Vol.  cviii,  1883,  p.  46. 

Resolutions  of  the  Faculty  of  the  Harvard  University  Medical  School 
on  the  Resignations  of  Professors  Holmes  and  Bigelow.  Vol.  cviii, 
1883.  p.  72. 

"  Sweet  Holmes :"  a  stanza  from  London  Punch  on  his  resignation 
from   Harvard  University.     Vol.  cviii,   1886,  p.  86. 

The  New  York  Dinner  to  Dr.  Holmes.     Vol.  cviii,  1883,  p.  378  and  379. 

Presentation  of  a  Portrait  of  Professor  Holmes  to  the  Harvard  Medical 
School.     Vol.  cix,   1883,  p.  404. 

"  New  Facts  about  Dr.  O.  W.  Holmes."     Vol.  ex,  1884,  p.  334. 

"  Dr.  Holmes  in  England."  (From  British  Medical  Journal.)  Vol.  cxiv, 
1886,  p.  626. 

"Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes"  (Phoebo  ante  alias  dilectus).  Vol.  cxv, 
1886,  p.  217. 

Announcement  of  the  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  Hospital,  Hudson,  St. 
Croix  County,  Wisconsin,   1888.      (St.   Paul,   1888,  15  pp.  80.) 

(In   'Atlantic    Monthly.") 
"  Homeopathic  Domestic   Physician."     Vol.  i,   1857,  p.  250. 
"  Agassiz's  Natural  History."     Vol.  i,  1858,  p.  320. 
"  Brief  Expositions  of  Rational  Medicine."     Vol.  ii,  1858,  p.  736. 
"  Mothers  and  Infants,  Nurses  and  Nursing."     Vol.  iii,   1858,  p.  645. 
"  The   Steroscope  and  the  Stereograph."     Vol.  iii,   1859,  p.  738. 
"The  Human  Wheel,  its  Spokes  and  Felloes."    Vol.  xi,  1863,  p.  567. 
"The  Great  Instrument."     Vol.  xii,   1863,  p.  637. 
"Sex  in  Education"   (Dr.  Clarke).     Vol.  xxxii,  1873,  p.  737. 
"Prof.  Jeffries  W'vman."     Vol.  xxxiv,  1874,  p.  611. 
"  Crime  and  Automatism."     Vol.  xxxv,   1875,  P-  466. 
"A  Memorial  Tribute"   (to  Dr.  Samuel  G.  Howe).     Vol.  xxxvii,  1876, 

P-  474- 

"Benjamin   Pierce."     Vol.  xlvi,   1880,  p.  824. 


800  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

GEORGE  HAYWARD. 

George  Hayward  was  graduated  from  Harvard  College  in 
1809,  and  received  the  A.  B.  from  Yale  in  the  same  year.  He 
was  graduated  in  medicine  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania 
in  1 81 2.  From  the  beginning  of  his  career,  Hayward  showed 
a  fondness  for  his  profession  and  a  high  appreciation  of  its 
dignity  and  importance.  Medicine  and  surgery  had  for  him 
clear  and  distinct  principles  upon  which  there  could  be  no  com- 
promise. He  was  always  ready  to  assail  dogma  in  medicine, 
and  never  hesitated  to  show  his  intense  dislike  for  any  form 
of  empiricism.  In  temperament  he  was  sanguine,  and  that 
added  earnestness  and  energy  to  his  character. 

Hayward  was  one  of  the  members  of  the  private  club  in- 
cluding Channing,  Bigelow,  Gorham,  J.  C.  Warren  and  Ware, 
which  met  weekly  for  the  reading  and  criticism  of  papers 
offered  for  publication  in  the  "New  England  Journal." 

When  Asiatic  Cholera  threatened  Boston,  the  Councillors 
of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  appointed  a  committee 
(February  1832)  to  investigate  the  history  of  that  plague  and 
report  upon  the  best  mode  of  treatment,  as  well  as  upon  the 
contageousness  of  the  disease.  Hayward  was  one  of  the  com- 
mittee, and  their  report  became  authoritative.  In  1837,  when 
Hayward  was  one  of  the  consulting  physicians  of  the  city  of 
Boston,  he  assisted  in  framing  that  "Report  upon  Smallpox" 
which  embodies  the  treatment  employed  to-day  in  handling  the 
contageous  disease. 

In  1830  he  joined  with  John  C.  Warren  and  Hale  in  form- 
ing a  private  school,  which  lived  eight  years.  In  the  mean- 
time Harvard  had  established  a  professorship  of  the  Prin- 
ciples of  Surgery  and  Clinical  Surgery,  and  at  the  same  meet- 
ing, January  15,  1835,  the  Corporation  elected  Hayward  to 
that  chair.  One  of  his  prescribed  duties  was  the  holding  of 
teaching  clinics  at  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital.     He 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  801 

had  already  been  appointed  to  the  visiting  staff  of  the 
Hospital,  and  was  therefore  in  a  position  to  undertake  teach- 
ing. His  connection  with  the  introduction  of  ether  in  surgical 
operations  is  a  well  known  tale  in  history.  He  did  the  first 
major  operation  ever  done  upon  a  patient  under  ether.  He 
resigned  his  professorship  at  the  Medical  School  on  March 
31,  1849.  The  Corporation  voted,  "That  in  accepting  the 
resignation  of  Dr.  Hayward  as  Professor  of  Surgery  this 
Board  is  deeply  sensible  of  the  important  services  rendered 
the  University  by  him,  and  hold  in  grateful  recollection  the 
successful  exertions  and  liberal  benefactions  made  by  him  to 
raise  the  character  and  promote  the  interests  of  the  Medical 
School." 

At  the  opening  of  the  new  building  on  North  Grove  Street, 
November  4,  1846.  Hayward  made  the  opening  address.  In 
the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  he  was  Corresponding  Sec- 
retary from  1832  to  1835,  and  President  from  1852-1855,  suc- 
ceeding John  Ware  in  the  latter  office.  In  1837  he  gave  the 
Annual  Address,  his  subject  being  "Some  Diseases  of  the  Knee 
Joint."  In  1852  he  was  chosen  a  Fellow  of  Harvard  College, 
and  served  until  his  death  in  October,  1863.  In  addition  to 
such  duties,  he  found  time  to  take  an  active  part  in  the 
affairs  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences.  Few 
teachers  in  the  Medical  School  showed  a  more  kindly  interest 
in  students  than  did  lie, — though  as  teacher  and  surgeon  he 
is  now  seldom  quoted.  At  a  meeting  of  the  Corporation  of 
!  [arvard  College  on  October  10,  1863,  the  following  resolu- 
tions were  adopted : 

"The  Corporation  of  Harvard  College  have  heard  with  deep  regret  the 
death  of  their  colleague  Dr.  George  Hayward.  Others  will  record  his 
eminent  professional  attainments  and  his  devotion  to  every  work  of  public 
and  private  charity,  A  child  of  the  College,  he  was  loyal  to  its  interests 
through  life.  In  his  prime  he  was  a  faithful  Professor  in  one  of  its 
departments  of  instruction,  and  in  his  later  years  he  brought  to  its  service 
m  this  Board  an  affectionate  zeal,  prudent  counsel,  and  a  large  and  varied 


802  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

knowledge  of  men  and  affairs.  Our  intimate  associations  with  him  for 
a  period  of  thirteen  years,  have  enabled  us  to  appreciate  and  entitle  us 
to  bear  witness  to  his  untiring  devotion  to  the  cause  of  education  and 
sound  learning." 

There  is  a  handsome  bust  of  this  good  man  in  the  possession 
of  the  University. 

AUSTIN  FLINT. 

Austin  Flint  was  born  at  Petersham,  Massachusetts,  Octo- 
ber 20th,  1812.  He  was  descended  from  a  line  of  good  doc- 
tors. His  great-grandfather,  Edward  Flint,  was  a  noted  prac- 
titioner at  Shrewsbury,  Massachusetts ;  his  grandfather,  Austin 
Flint  of  Leicester,  was  a  surgeon  in  the  American  Revolution ; 
and  his  father.  Joseph  Henshaw  Flint  (H.  U.,  M.  D.,  Hon. 
1825),  was  one  of  the  best  known  physicians  and  surgeons  of 
the  Connecticut  Valley. 

Austin  Flint  studied  at  Amherst  and  Harvard,  but  was  not 
graduated  A.  B.  He  was  graduated  at  the  Harvard  Medical 
School  in  1833.  After  practicing  for  three  years  at  Northamp- 
ton and  in  Boston,  he  moved  to>  Buffalo  (1836),  where  he 
remained  until  1844.  His  writings  had  already  attracted  atten- 
tion, and  in  1844  he  accepted  the  Professorship  of  the  Theory 
and  Practice  of  Medicine  at  the  recently  established  Rush  Med- 
ical College,  Chicago.  The  New  West  was  then  too  undevel- 
oped for  Flint's  tastes,  and  he  returned  to  Buffalo  after  one 
year's  stay  in  Chicago.  He  next  established  the  "Buffalo  Med- 
ical Journal"  (1845),  an<^  was  'ts  editor  for  the  subsequent 
ten  years. 

In  1847  Flint,  with  James  P.  White  and  Frank  H.  Hamilton 
founded  the  Buffalo  Medical  College,  now  the  Medical  De- 
partment of  the  LJniversity  of  Buffalo.  He  was  made  Profes- 
sor of  the  Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine  and  of  Clinical 
Medicine  there,  and  was  the  leading  teacher  up  to  the  time  of 
his  resignation  in  1852.     During  the  next  four  years  he  was 


M.   I).   1833. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  803 

Professor  of  Pathology  and  Clinical  Medicine  in  a  strong 
Faculty  at  Louisville,  after  which  he  again  returned  to  Buffalo, 
accepting  there  the  chair  of  Pathology  and  Clinical  Medicine. 
During  the  winters  of  1858-61  he  filled  the  professorship  of 
Clinical  Medicine  at  the  New  Orleans  Medical  School,  and 
was  attending  Physician  at  the  Charity  Hospital. 

In  1856  (November  15th)  the  Corporation  of  Harvard  Col- 
lege appointed  Flint  "to  deliver  such  of  the  lectures  on  Theory 
and  Practice  of  Medicine  as  may  be  agreed  upon  between  him 
and  Dr.  Ware,  the  present  incumbent."  This  was  about  the 
time  that  Flint  was  busy  in  the  Buffalo  School,  and  he  never 
delivered  the  lectures  at  Harvard.  Morrill  Wyman  agreed  to 
help  out  during  that  winter,  but  Harvard  lost  an  opportunity 
to  add  another  great  teacher  and  clinician  to  its  corps. 

In  1859  Flint  moved  to  New  York  City,  and  accepted  the 
double  position  of  Professor  of  the  Theory  and  Practice  of 
Medicine  and  Visiting  Physician  at  Bellevue  Medical  College 
and  Hospital,  and  Professor  of  Pathology  and  Practical  Med- 
icine at  the  Long  Island  College  and  Hospital.  He  resigned 
the  latter  position  in  1868.  He  was  President  of  the  New 
York  Academy  of  Medicine  from  1872  to  1885,  resigning"  on 
account  of  a  change  in  the  "Code"  sanctioning  consultations 
with  others  than  regular  physicians.  Flint  was  an  active 
member  of  many  leading  American  medical  and  scientific  soci- 
eties, and  was  a  corresponding  member  of  various  similar 
European  organizations.  He  was  president  of  the  American 
Medical  Association  (  [884),  and  was  one  of  the  orators  at 
three  International  Congresses  (Philadelphia  [876,  London 
1881,  Copenhagen  1884.)  lie  was  to  have  presided  at  the 
International  Congress  at  Washington  in  1887.  but  be  died 
in  New  York,  March  13,  1886. 

Mint's  distinction  rests  fully  as  much  upon  his  published 
works  as  upon  his  teaching.  Main'  of  his  writings  were  the 
accepted  text-books  upon  the  principles  and  practice  of  med- 


804  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

icine.  His  greatest  and  most  extensive  treatise  is  the  "Prac- 
tice of  Medicine,"  published  in  1866;  it  ran  through  seven  edi- 
tions, with  the  enormous  sale  of  forty  thousand  copies.  Two 
of  his  writings,  "Variations  in  Percussion  and  Respiratory 
Sounds,"  and  "Clinical  Study  of  the  Heart  Sounds  in  Health 
and  Disease,"  won  the  first  prize  of  the  American  Medical 
Association  in  1852  and  1859.  His  "Physical  Exploration 
and  Diagnosis  of  Diseases  Affecting  the  Respiratory  Organs," 
and  "A  Practical  Treatise  Upon  the  Pathology,  Diagnosis  and 
Treatment  of  Diseases  of  the  Heart"  went  to  second  editions. 
Among  his  later  publications  were  "Essays  on  Conservatism ;" 
"Medicine  and  Kindred  Topics,"  "Phthisis;  Its  Morbid  Anat- 
omy, Etiology,  Symptomatic  Events  and  Complications,  Fatal- 
ity and  Prognosis,  Treatment  and  Physical  Diagnosis,  in  a 
Series  of  Clinical  Studies,"  "A  Manual  of  Percussion  and  Aus- 
cultation," "Clinical  Medicine,  A  Systematic  Treatise  on  the 
Diagnosis  and  Treatment  of  Disease,"  "Physical  Exploration 
of  the  Lungs  by  Means  of  Auscultation  and  Percussion"  and 
"Medical  Ethics  and  Etiquette."  From  such  a  list,  and  those 
are  good  books,  one  may  judge  of  the  man's  power  and  value. 
He  was  loved  and  respected  by  his  fellows.  No  stronger 
proof  of  this  is  needed  than  his  selection  as  the  compromise 
candidate  in  the  congress  of  1877.  Both  parties  to  that  bitter 
controversy  accepted  him,  and  he  was  a  strong  factor  in  bring- 
ing about  an  understanding.  His  Alma  Mater  may  pride  her- 
self on  his  long  and  useful  career  as  a  teacher,  writer  and  prac- 
titioner of  medicine.  For  forty  years  Flint  contributed  largely 
to  the  medical  literature  of  the  country.  Many  of  his  first 
papers  appeared  in  the  "Buffalo  Medical  Journal,"  which  owed 
much  to  his  writings.  From  1848  to  1850  he  published  articles 
on  Diabetes,  the  Pathology  of  Typhoid  Fever,  on  the  Epidemic 
Cholera  in  Buffalo,  on  Serous  Effusions  Into  the  Arachnoid 
Cavity,  on  Pleuro-pneumonitis  complicated  with  Pericarditis, 
and  on  Fifty-two  cases  of  Typhoid  fever.     These  papers  were 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  805 

followed  in  1852  by  clinical  reports  on  Continued  Fever  and 
on  Variations  of  Pitch  in  Percussion  and  Respiratory  Sounds 
and  their  Application  to  Physical  Diagnosis;  in  1853,  by  Clin- 
ical Reports  on  Dysentery,  and  on  Chronic  Pleurisy.  The 
method  of  his  writings  was  characteristic  and  instructive,  and 
won  him  a  great  reputation.  The  long  series  of  years  thus 
devoted  to  the  study  and  publishing  of  purely  clinical  reports 
s:ave  him  a  breadth  and  keenness  of  observation  which  show 
in  those  more  extensive  w  orks  which  remain  associated  with 
his  name.  The  permanency  of  these  latter  works  demonstrates 
the  wisdom  of  laying  a  sound  foundation  before  venturing 
upon  book  writing,;  verbum  sap.,  ye  moderns. 

In  all  his  writings,  Flint  showed  himself  straight-forward 
and  honest.  What  he  did  not  know  he  would  not  state;  when 
he  felt  that  he  needed  help  in  his  writings,  he  was  ready  to  ask 
it.  and  he  always  gave  full  credit  for  the  assistance  secured. 
One  sees  this  in  his  prefaces,  in  which  he  gives  William  H. 
Welch  the  credit  for  the  chapters  on  pathological  anatomy  in 
his  more  recent  works.  His  writings  do  not  aim  at  extensive 
original  research,  but  rather  endeavor  to  popularize  the  latest 
and  best  in  medical  thought.  His  works  on  percussion  and 
auscultation  are  his  best  original  productions.  In  his  writing  as 
in  his  teaching,  he  was  modest,  clear,  painstaking  and  accurate. 
He  used  to  say,  "It  is  a  positive  enjoyment  for  me  to  write,  and 
when  the  work  of  the  day  is  done,  I  sit  in  my  office  and  fre- 
quently write  until  eleven,  twelve,  one,  and  perhaps  two  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  before  I  feel  tired  enough  to  go  to  bed."  'The 
Lancet"  called  him  "The  Watson  of  America."  As  a  teacher 
Flint  had  a  high  reputation.  He  taught  general  medicine,  and 
developed  a  systematic  presentation  of  his  subject.  Both  his 
clinical  and  didactic  lectures  were  prepared  with  care,  and 
never  were  extemporaneous. 

In  1862  Flint  became  a  member  of  the  New  York  Academy 
of  Medicine;  he  was  its  orator  in    1868.  its   Nice  president  in 


S06  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

1871  and  1872,  and  its  president  in  1873  and  1874.  On  his 
induction  into  office.  Peaslee  said :  "We  have  always  found 
you  the  high-minded  and  sympathetic  man,  and  the  genial  gen- 
tleman, as  well  as  the  finished  scholor,  the  distinguished  author 
and  the  skilful  practitioner."  Flint  remained  a  member  of  the 
Academy  until  a  short  time  before  his  death.  In  the  fracas 
over  the  "Code,"  although  a  strong  party  man,  as  every  man 
of  prominence  in  the  profession  then  was,  he  could  not  be 
classed  as  a  bitter  partisan.  His  aim  was  to  promote  peace, 
harmony,  and  brotherhood ;  failure  in  that  aim  caused  him 
the  keenest  mortification.  In  1883  he  was  elected  president  of 
the  American  Medical  Association,  and  it  was  his  suggestion 
which  led  to  the  meeting  of  the  International  Medical  Congress 
in  this  country  in  1887.  He  was  to  have  delivered  the  presi- 
dential address,  as  Samuel  D.  Gross's  successor,  had  not  death 
intervened.  He  was  the  first  American  to  deliver  the  address 
in  medicine  before  the  British  Medical  Association  (August, 
1885). 

Flint's  ambition  to  raise  the  standard  of  medical  education 
was  early  shown  in  the  New  York  convention  to  organize  the 
American  Medical  Association,  May  5th,  1846,  when  his  com- 
mittee reported,  "That  it  be  recommended  to  all  the  colleges 
to  extend  the  period  employed  in  lecturing  from  four  to  six 
months."  Forty  subsequent  years  of  labor  failed  to  realize 
these  hopes  of  his  younger  days.  In  one  of  his  last  works, 
"Medicine  in  the  Future,"  he  shows  almost  prophetic  sight: 

"The  meditations  of  a  medical  practitioner,  whose  retrospection  extends 
over  half  a  century,  may  naturally  be  expected  to  revert  to  the  past     . 
If  our  retrospection  extend   half  a  century,  it  is  worth   while  to  inquire: 
How  will   the  present  appear  in   a   retrospective  view  at  the  end  of  the 
next  fifty  years?  " 

From  such  a  hight  of  observation  he  looked  forward  as  well 
as  backward,  and  predicted, 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  807 

"  That  the  history  of  medicine  will  have  a  steady  acceleration  in  prog- 
ress ;  that  knowledge  with  reference  to  anatomy,  histology  and  chemistry 
will  advance ;  that  our  senses  will  be  aided  and  augmented ;  that  hearing 
will  be  vastly  improved  by  means  of  microphonic  stethoscopes ;  that  a 
judicious  bloodletting  will  be  revived,  and  that  the  lancet  will  again  find 
a  place  which  it  lost  through  over-use ;  that  bacterial  etiology  will  be 
established  and  revolutionize  the  treatment  of  certain  diseases ;  that  the 
little  understood  functions  of  the  spleen  and  liver,  the  thyroid  body, 
the  lymphatic  glands,  the  suprarenal  capsules  offer  problems  which  will 
form  '  a  vast  and  fruitful  field  for  future  clinical  research.' ' 


EMINENT  ALUMNI 

(CONTINUED) 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  811 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

EMINENT  ALUMNI    (CONTINUED). 

GEORGE  CHEYNE  SHATTUCK. 

George  C.  Shattuck  is  a  strong  link  in  the  chain  of  medical 
men  bearing  the  Shattuck  name.  With  a  father  eminent  as  a 
physician,  and  a  grandfather  typical  of  the  best  in  the  medicine 
of  his  generation,  he  was  in  turn  the  father  of  two  sons  not  un- 
known to  the  profession. 

The  subject  of  this  memoir  was  born  in  Boston,  July  22, 
18 1 3.  Educated  at  the  famous  Round  Hill  School  at  North- 
ampton and  at  the  Boston  Latin  School,  he  entered  Harvard 
College,  and  was  graduated  in  the  class  of  1831.  During 
these  formative  years  Shattuck  was  under  influences  of  the 
highest  character.  His  father  was  the  personification  of 
benevolence,  his  mother  the  ideal  of  charity.  The  output  of 
the  Northampton  School  in  Shattuck's  class  alone  shows  the 
sort  of  character  fostered  there.  J.  M.  Forbes,  Wendell 
Phillips,  J.  L.  Motley,  J.  T.  Morse,  T.  G.  Appleton,  Francis 
Boott,  John  Morrison,  F.  W.  Brune  and  J.  C.  Brune  were  some 
of  the  members  of  his  class  both  there  and  at  College ; — men 
who  were  distinguished  later  in  American  history  and  in 
American  literature.  The  following  words  from  his  own 
address  at  the  founding  of  St.  Paul's  School  reflect  some- 
thing of  Shattuck's  character : 

"  Physical  and  moral  culture  can  best  be  carried  on  where  boys  live 
with,  and  are  constantly  under  the  supervision  of,  the  teachers,  and  in 
the  country.  Outdoor  exercise  is  thus  secured.  Green  holds  and  trees, 
streams  and  ponds,  beautiful  scenery,  flowers  and  minerals,  are  educators. 


812  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

The  things  which  are  seen  are  very  valuable,  and  may  be  used  to  teach  of 
Him  Who  made  them,  and  thus  of  the  things  unseen.  Religious  teaching 
and  training  for  beings  such  as  we  are,  is  all  important.  The  things 
of  this  world  are  engrossing;  but  boys  ought  to  be  trained  not  only  for 
this  life,  but  so  as  to  enter  into  and  enjoy  eternal  and  unseen  realities. 
The  life  of  this  world  is  short  and  uncertain.  To  live  well  here,  in  the 
fear  and  love  of  God,  and  with  love  to  our  fellow-men,  is  not  easy,  and 
teachers  and  instructors,  who  have  learned  and  practiced  the  arts  of  so 
living  and  passing  through  this  world  as  not  to  lose  the  things  eternal, 
are  essential  to  the  success  of  a  boarding  school  for  boys." 

With  Shattuck  these  were  not  idle  words ;  they  came  from 
his  heart. 

After  graduating  from  Harvard,  he  entered  the  law  school 
in  obedience  to  the  wish  of  his  father,  who  thought  the  youth 
unequal  to  the  strain  of  medical  practice.  After  he  had  studied 
a  year  at  the  law  school,  "a  perfect  martyr  to  his  fidelity,"  his 
father  consented  to  his  taking  up  medicine,  and  in  1835  ne 
received  the  M.  D.  from  Harvard.  After  some  time  spent  in 
further  study  at  Bowdoin,  and  with  Professor  Lincoln  at  Bur- 
lington, he  passed  three  years  in  Paris  and  London.  In  Paris 
he  was  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  Louis,  and  early  became  one 
of  his  favorite  pupils.  His  translation  of  Louis'  work  on 
Yellow  Fever  was  one  of  his  achievements  during  this  course 
of  study.  Upon  the  suggestion  of  Louis,  Shattuck  visited  the 
Fever  Hospital  in  London,  to  study  the  symptoms  and  course 
of  typhoid  and  typhus  fevers,  and  to  gather  material  for  use 
by  Louis  in  his  work  on  the  differential  diagnosis  of  these  two 
diseases,  which  were  then  often  confounded.  In  this  research 
Shattuck  was  aided  by  Stille  of  Philadelphia,  a  fellow  student 
who  had  had  exceptional  opportunities  to  observe  the  course 
of  typhus  fever  at  home,  an  experience  not  to  be  found  in  the 
Paris  hospitals.  These  two  young  men,  Shattuck  and  Stille, 
presented  a  paper  at  the  Paris  Observation  Society  in  1838, 
and  demonstrated  the  differential  diagnosis  of  the  two  diseases. 

With  such  exceptional  equipment  for  the  practice  of  med- 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  813 

icine,  Shattuck  returned  to  Boston,  and  became  associated  with 
his  father,  then  a  leader  in  the  medical  and  social  circles  of  the 
city.  On  April  9th,  1840,  he  married,  in  Baltimore,  Anne 
Henrietta  Brune,  a  sister  of  his  college  classsmate. 

Upon  the  resignation  of  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  from  the 
visiting  staff  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  Shattuck 
was  appointed  to  the  vacancy.  This  position  he  held  until 
1885,  when  he  was  made  consultant  to  the  Hospital.  At  a 
meeting  of  the  Corporation  of  Harvard  College,  December 
30,  1854,  Jacob  Bigelow  resigned  the  Professorship  of  Materia 
Medica,  and  the  Lectureship  in  Clinical  Medicine.  It  was 
thereupon  voted  to  establish  a  Professorship  of  Clinical  Med- 
icine in  place  of  the  Lectureship,  and  Shattuck  was  selected 
to  fill  the  place.  Lie  resigned  this  Professorship  January  22, 
1859,  and  at  the  same  meeting  he  was  elected  Hersey  Professor 
of  Theory  and  Practice  of  Physic  as  successor  to  John  Ware. 
He  held  this  position  until  November  29,  1873.  He  was  Dean 
of  the  Medical  School  from  1864  to  1869.  To  these  different 
offices  Shattuck  brought  a  keen  understanding  of  human  na- 
ture, admirable  judgment,  rare  unselfishness,  and  a  firmness  of 
purpose  which  won  respect.  In  the  council  of  his  associates  he 
was  a  constant  advocate  of  devotion  to  the  interests  of  the 
School  they  served,  as  above  all  self-seeking.  A  fellow  teacher 
says  of  Shattuck :  "  Several  of  the  School's  best  teachers 
would  have  been  lost  to  it  without  his  persistent  advocacy  of 
their  appointment,  and  in  more  than  one  instance  places  were 
made  in  his  own  department  for  those  who  could  not  be  pro- 
vided for  in  other  departments."  As  a  teacher  he  was  prac- 
tical. He  established  clinical  conferences  in  the  teaching  of 
medicine,  and  was  an  advocate  of  the  benefits  to  be  derived 
from  quiz  classes  among  the  students,  outside  their  regular 
lectures.  For  the  encouragement  of  this  latter  plan  he  pro- 
vided rooms  in  his  own  office  building.  "Had  he  been  sup- 
ported in  these  efforts,  the  school  might  have  had  an  earlier 


814  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

development  in  this  important  direction."  That  Shattuck's 
interest  in  the  promotion  of  medical  education  was  genuine 
and  unselfish,  is  further  attested  by  his  sacrifice  of  time, 
strength  and  money,  in  delivering  for  many  years  an  annual 
course  of  lectures  on  physiology  and  hygiene  at  Trinity  Col- 
lege, and  at  St.  James  College,  Maryland.  He  gave  these  lec- 
tures without  compensation. 

In  his  daily  professional  life  one  sees  his  marked  religious 
convictions.  He  was  indeed  the  good  physician.  The  belief 
he  professed  at  church  on  Sunday  he  practiced  daily  in  his 
hospital  wards,  and  in  the  homes  of  the  sick  and  poor.  So 
much  were  these  principles  a  part  of  him  that  he  seriously  con- 
sidered taking  orders.  He  was  regarded  as  the  foremost  lay- 
man in  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Massachusetts.  Samuel  Eliot 
says  :  "He  was  a  member  of  almost  every  society  board  in  his 
diocese,  a  delegate  to  every  diocesan  and  every  general  conven- 
tion, a  trustee  of  the  General  Theological  Seminary,  and  of 
other  bodies  beyond  the  diocese."  Few  instances  occur  to  me  in 
which  there  is  a  more  perfect  blending  of  the  spiritual,  mental, 
and  social  nature;  and  the  beauty  of  it  all  is,  that  he  seemed 
to  be  unconscious  of  its  workings,  so  modest  and  simple  was 
his  faith.  Of  the  many  objects  of  his  generosity  two  flourish 
vigorously, — St.  Paul's  School,  and  the  Faribault  School.  St. 
Paul's  School  at  Concord,  New  Hampshire,  was  founded  in 
1856.  It  was  established  in  accordance  with  Shattuck's  well 
grounded  belief  that  boys  should  be  trained  in  body,  mind, 
and  soul.  It  will  be  recognized  that  he  built  upon  good  foun- 
dations ;  for  the  little  beginning  in  the  house  which  was 
his  summer  home  has  grown  to  the  great  institution  which 
he  had  the  satisfaction  <A  seeing  before  his  death.  Besides 
St.  Paul's  School.  Shattuck  founded  a  school  which  bears  his 
name  at  Faribault,  Minnesota ; — a  beacon  light  in  the  new 
north-west. 

Besides   his   publication   of   the   translation   of   Louis   "On 


JEFFRIES   WYMAN. 

A.  B.  1833;  A.  M.;   M.  I).   1837. 
Hersey  Professor  Anatomy  1847-1874. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  815 

Yellow  Fever,"  Shattuck  gave  the  annual  discourse  before 
the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  in  1866,  on  "The  Medical 
Profession  and  Society."  He  was  president  of  the  Society 
in  1872-1874.  He  was  a  member  of  the  American  Academy 
of  Arts  and  Sciences,  vice-president  of  the  American  Sta- 
tistical Association,  Honorary  Fellow  of  the  Philadelphia  Col- 
lege of  Physicians,  member  of  the  Paris  Society  for  Medical 
Observation  and  of  the  New  England  Historic-Geneological 
Society.  As  a  companion  and  friend  his  lively  sense  of  humor 
and  his  genuine  hospitality  were  very  charming.  He  died  in 
Boston,  on  March  22,  1893.  The  College  of  Physicians  of 
Philadelphia  passed  the  following  resolution  : 

"  By  Dr.  Shattuck's  earnest  devotion  to  the  duties  and  interests  of  the 
profession  for  which  he  felt  an  hereditary  attachment,  and  which  he  illus- 
trated by  a  long  career  of  fruitful  teaching  and  practice  and  by  the  upright- 
ness, unselfishness  and  simplicity  of  his  life  and  his  genial  and  benevolent 
disposition,  he  exerted  a  beneficial  influence  while  he  lived,  and  has  left 
behind  him  the  memory  of  a  character  worthy  of  admiration,  and  which 
should  serve  as  an  example  and  encouragement  to  all  who  aspire  to  be 
held  in  honor  and  affectionate  remembrance." 


JEFFRIES  WYMAN. 

Jeffries  Wyman  was  born  in  the  town  of  Chelmsford,  Mas- 
sachusetts, near  what  is  now  the  city  of  Lowell,  on  the  nth 
of  August,  18 1 4.  His  father,  Rufus  Wyman,  previously  men- 
tioned in  these  pages  as  the  first  physician  to  the  McLean 
Asylum  for  the  Insane,  was  a  partner  of  the  well  known  John 
Jeffries,  of  Boston,  after  whom  the  son  was  named. 

Jeffries  Wyman  was  fitted  for  college  at  Phillips  Academy. 
Exeter,  and  entered  Harvard  in  1829.  While  at  college  he 
was  an  earnest  student,  and  showed  such  ability  in  the  natural 
sciences  that  his  college  room  was  known  as  a  curiosity  shop 
of  anatomical  preparations.  There  yon  might  see  tadpoles 
and  frogs  skillfully  dissected  and  neatly  arranged   in  a  man- 


816  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

ner  which  marked  the  budding  scientist.  He  was  graduated 
in  1833,  and  after  four  years  of  study  under  John  C.  Dalton 
and  his  own  father,  received  his  medical  degree  from  Harvard 
in  1837.  During  those  four  years  also,  he  had  been  a  house 
pupil  at  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital.  Howbeit,  his 
taste  was  for  research  and  teaching  rather  than  for  the  prac- 
tice of  his  profession. 

Wyman's  first  appointment  was  as  Demonstrator  (1838) 
to  John  C.  Warren :  "He  was  unwilling  to  tax  the  limited 
resources  of  a  father  to  whom  he  was  fondly  attached,  and 
was  living  at  this  time  with  an  economy  which  it  would  be 
painful  to  think  of,  if  we  did  not  remember  how  many  of 
the  heroes  of  knowledge  have  eaten  the  bread  of  poverty, 
and  found  in  it  the  nourishment  of  steady  endeavor  and  serene 
self  possession."  From  the  proceeds  of  a  course  of  lectures 
given  in  1841  before  the  Lowell  Institute,  of  which  he  had 
been  Curator,  he  was  enabled  to  pursue  his  studies  in  Europe, 
giving  his  whole  attention  to  human  and  comparative  anat- 
omy, and  to  natural  history  and  physiology.  He  was  a  stu- 
dent of  Flourens,  Magendie,  Louget,  De  Blainville,  Valen- 
ciennes, Dremeril,  Isidore  St.  Hilaire,  and  Milne-Edwards. 
While  in  London  in  1842  he  was  called  back  to  this  country 
by  his  father's  death.  June  22,  1842.  In  1843  Jeffries  Wyman 
was  appointed  Professor  of  Anatomy  and  Physiology  in  the 
Medical  Department  of  Hampden  Sidney  College,  Richmond. 
Upon  the  resignation  of  John  C.  Warren,  in  1847,  the  Hersey 
Professorship  of  Anatomy  at  Harvard  was  established  in  place 
of  the  Hersey  Professorship  of  Anatomy  and  Surgery,  and 
was  at  the  same  time  removed  from  the  Medical  School  to 
Cambridge.  Jeffries  Wyman  was  elected,  April  3,  1847,  to 
this  new  professorship.  To  illustrate  his  lectures  he  began 
the  formation  of  the  Museum  of  Comparative  Anatomy  and 
Physiology  which  has  since  remained  a  valuable  legacy  to 
science  and  a  monument  to  his  name.     In  it  are  collected  speci- 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  817 

mens  almost  innumerable  in  variety,  type,  stage  of  develop- 
ment, normal  and  abnormal,  of  animal  and  human  life.  No 
cheap  rubbish  found  a  place  on  those  shelves;  each  specimen 
had  its  special  object,  and  all  were  systematically  arranged 
so  as  to  carry  out  some  idea  of  the  collector.  Every  speci- 
men labeled  by  the  same  hand  speaks  for  painstaking  labor. 

During  his  college  course  Wyman  had  become  the  victim 
of  a  pulmonary  affection  which  kept  him  an  invalid,  and 
eventually  caused  his  death.  In  his  many  journeys  seeking 
health,  and  to  escape  New  England  winters,  he  was  not  idle. 
Each  excursion  was  employed  in  some  scientific  investigation 
and  in  adding  some  new  treasure  to  his  life's  work. 

In  1866  George  Peabody  of  London  founded  at  Harvard 
an  archaeological  and  ethnological  museum  which  to-day 
bears  the  name  of  Peabody.  From  the  funds  then  available 
there  was  created  the  position  of  Curator,  and  Jeffries  Wyman 
was  asked  to  accept  the  office.  He  shared  with  Louis  Agassiz 
the  labors  of  the  Faculty  of  the  Museum  of  Comparative  Zo- 
ology. From  1856  until  1870  he  held  the  office  of  president 
of  the  Boston  Society  of  Natural  History.  He  joined  this 
Society  in  October,  1837.  He  was  Recording  Secretary 
1839-41,  Curator  of  Icthyology  and  Herpetology  1841-47, 
of  Herptology  1847-55,  of  Comparative  Anatomy  1855-74. 
In  1857  he  was  chosen  president  of  the  American  Association 
for  the  Promotion  of  Science,  but  did  not  serve.  He  was 
councillor  in  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences, 
and  a  member  of  the  Faculty  of  the  Museum  of  Comparative 
Anatomy.  His  death  occurred  at  Bethlehem.  New  Hamp- 
shire, on  September  4,  1874. 

As  a  physician  there  is  nothing  to  say  concerning  the  life 
and  labors  of  Jeffries  Wyman.  Like  his  colleagues,  Agassiz 
and  Gray,  he  early  found  that  a  life's  best  work  may  be  done 
in  channels  other  than  those  first  entered.  A  gentle  manner, 
a  pleasant  smile,  keen  observation,   logical   reasoning,   a   love 


818  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

of  work,  and  the  power  to  express  the  truth  of  his  convictions 
marked  him  as  a  man  who  would  have  succeeded  in  practice. 
A  life  of  practice,  however,  does  not  always  satisfy  the 
scientific  mind.  Jeffries  Wyman  had  natural  gifts  of  acute- 
ness  and  accuracy  of  observation,  deep  penetration,  fine  power 
of  definition,  and  a  modesty  and  generosity  which  admirably 
fitted  him  for  the  labor  of  his  choice.  He  developed  such 
traits  at  an  early  age.  Here  is  the  tribute  of  a  fellow-student* 
at  Exeter  when  Wyman  was  a  lad  of  fourteen, — playful, 
frank,  generous,  a  child  of  nature  rather  than  a  student  of 
books : 

"  He  would  take  long  rambles  in  the  woods,  and  go  into  the  water  and 
a-fishing,  and  draw  funny  outline-sketches  in  his  school-books,  and  whittle 
out  gimcracks  with  his  penknife,  and  pitch  stones  or  a  ball  farther  and 
higher  than  anybody  in  the  academy,  when  he  ought  to  have  been  study- 
ing his  lessons.  Only  a  few  years  ago,  when  we  were  chattering  together 
about  our  early  life  at  Exeter  and  in  college,  he  said  in  his  frank  and 
simple  way,  with  a  laugh  and  half  a  sigh,  '  Bowen,  I  made  a  great  mis- 
take in  so  neglecting  distasteful  studies,  though  you  may  think  I  made  up 
for  it  by  following  the  bent  of  my  inclination  for  catching  and  dissecting 
bull-frogs ;  I  have  been  obliged,  even  of  late  years,  to  study  hard  on 
some  subjects  distinct  from  and  yet  collateral  with  my  special  pursuits, 
which  I  ought  to  have  mastered  in  my  boyhood.'  The  boy  was  very  like 
the  man,  only  with  age,  as  was  natural,  he  became  more  earnest,  per- 
sistent and  methodical." 

Wyman's  earliest  publication  is  "On  the  Indistinctness  of 
Images  Formed  by  Oblique  Rays  of  Light,"  published  in 
1837.1  His  contributions  to  science  during  the  remaining 
thirty-seven  years  of  his  life  embrace  a  wide  range  of  sub- 
jects :§  Anatomy,  human  and  comparative;  physiological  ob- 
servations ;  microscopical  researches ;  paleontological  and  eth- 

*  Professor  Francis  Bowen. 

f "  Boston  Medical  and   Surgical  Journal.      Sept.    1837. 

§  Catalogue  of  Scientific  Papers  compiled  and  published  by  the  Royal 
Society  of  London  111  the  year  1863  contains  64  papers  by  Professor 
Wyman,  and  four  others  with  associates. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  819 

nological  studies  of  fossils  and  relics ;  notices  of  the  habits  of 
animals;  fossil  rain-drop  impressions;  and  upon  questions  re- 
lating to  the  planes  and  angles  of  the  cells  of  bees.  In  his 
''Observations  on  Crania,"  as  well  as  in  his  description  of 
the  arrangement  of  the  spiculae  of  bone  in  the  neck  of  the 
femur,  are  valuable  contributions  to  histology  and  compar- 
ative anatomy.  The  drawings  in  these,  as  well  as  the  various 
illustrations  used  in  his  other  works,  exhibit  skill  and  clear- 
ness of  a  high  order.  His  description  of  the  brain  and  skull 
of  Daniel  Webster,  and  his  original  account  of  a  fracture  of 
the  two  lower  lumbar  vertibrae  dependent  on  their  anatomical 
peculiarities,  have  practical  interest.  In  the  Webster  murder 
trial  his  evidence  relating  to  bones  which  had  been  submitted 
to  great  heat,  and  his  restoration  of  the  fragments,  is  a  mas- 
terpiece of  medico-legal  testimony.  It  was  no  small  honor 
to  have  Holmes  say  of  him:  "It  need  hardly  be  said  that, 
while  he  did  not  concentrate  his  attention  chiefly  on  human 
anatomy,  few  of  those  who  teach  that  branch  alone  are  as 
thoroughly  masters  of  it  as  he  was."f 

Wyman's  convincing  exposition  of  the  true  nature  of  the 
so-called  sea-serpent,  Hydrarchus  Sillimani,  made  him  famous 
outside  of  the  profession.  In  comparative  anatomy  his  trea- 
tise on  "The  Nervous  System  of  Rana  Pipiens,"  and  on  "The 
Embryology  of  Raia  Batis"  are  notable.  Under  this  head 
one  observes  his  papers  on  the  gorilla,  which  owes  to  him  its 
famous  name  and  introduction  to  the  scientific  world ;  papers 
on  the  eye  and  organ  of  hearing  in  the  "blind  fishes"  of  the 
Mammoth  Cave  of  Kentucky ;  on  the  passage  of  nerves  across 
the  median  line;  on  a  thread-worm  in  the  brain  of  the  snail- 
bird. 

In  physiological  research  his  long  series  of  experiments  on 

f  Memoir  of  Professor  Jeffries  Wyman,"  by  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes. 
Massachusetts  Historical  Proceedings,  vol.  xiv,  from  which  much  of  this 
sketch   is   taken. 


820  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

the  formation  of  infusoria  in  boiled  solutions  of  organic  mat- 
ter contained  in  hermetically-sealed  vessels  was  an  important 
contribution  to  biogenesis.  Other  contributions  were  his  ob- 
servations on  the  development  of  mould  in  the  interior  of 
eggs;  the  effects  of  heated  water  on  living  organisms;  the 
effect  of  light  on  the  development  of  tadpoles ;  his  contrivance 
for  measuring  the  velocity  and  force  of  ciliary  movements, 
and  his  ingenious  explanation  of  the  mechanism  of  the  tibio- 
tarsal  joint  in  the  ostrich.  His  great  work  in  this  department 
was  the  "Description  of  a  Double  Foetus."  His  article  on 
the  symmetry  and  homology  of  limbs  was  the  first  of  a  long 
series  of  similar  papers  by  various  observers  since  that  time. 
From  his  physiological  papers  one  learns  something  of  his 
natural  history  work.  In  1857  he  visited  Dutch  Guiana  in 
order  to  study  the  method  of  gestation  of  certain  species  of 
fishes  there.  In  "Notes  on  the  Cells  of  the  Bee"  one  finds  him 
controverting  much  that  hitherto  had  been  generally  accepted. 
As  Curator  of  the  Peabody  Museum  he  carefully  arranged, 
labeled  and  classified  that  great  variety  of  specimens  illus- 
trating ever}'  grade  of  change  through  which  the  human  form 
has  passed.    This  work  occupied  many  of  his  later  years. 

We  have  seen  in  the  story  of  the  Medical  School  the  appre- 
ciation of  Wyman  by  one  of  Boston's  generous  citizens, 
Thomas  Lee.  Other  men  helped  the  College  directly  by  con- 
tributing collections  for  the  museum.  All  unite  in  describing 
Jeffries  Wyman  as  a  man  of  the  most  amiable  and  unselfish 
disposition,  given  neither  to  jealousy  nor  disputation,  and 
with  a  natural  modesty  which  often  was  a  barrier  to  the  rec- 
ognition of  his  merits.  Few  scientists  and  lovers  of  their  kind 
have  left  a  sweeter  memory  to  posterity  than  has  this  phy- 
sician. 

One  should  mention  especially  Wyman's  course  of  twelve 
lectures  on  Comparative  Physiology,  delivered  in  1849  before 
the  Lowell  Institute.     These  were  illustrated  with  that  clear- 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  821 

ness,  method  and  soundness  which  came  to  be  characteristic 
of  him  as  a  teacher.  His  brother,  Morrill  Wyman,  says  of 
him: 

'He  early  showed  an  interest  in  natural  history.  When  less  than  ten 
years  old  he  spent  half  his  holidays  in  solitary  walks  along  the  banks  of 
the  Charles  River  and  the  margin  of  the  creek  near  the  Asylum,  to  pick 
up  from  the  sedge  anything  of  interest  that  might  be  driven  ashore.  It 
was  seldom  that  he  returned  from  these  walks  without  something  either 
dead  or  alive  as  a  reward  of  his  search.  In  college  the  same  preferment 
continued,  and  although  he  did  not  neglect  the  prescribed  course,  he  made 
many  dissections  and  some  skeletons,  especially  one  of  a  mammoth  bull- 
frog, once  an  inhabitant  of  Fresh  Pond,  which  was  a  subject  of  much 
interest  to  his  classmates  and  is  now,  I  believe,  in  the  Musuem  of  Com- 
parative Anatomy.  He  early  commenced  drawing,  but  with  very  little 
regular  instruction ; — he  also,  when  ten  or  twelve  years  old,  painted 
on  a  panel  with  house  paints  a  portrait  of  himself  which  was  something 
of  a  likeness,  but  deficient  in  proper  tints ;  the  nearest  approach  he  could 
make  to  the  color  of  his  hair  was — green.  His  facility  in  sketching  in 
after  life  was  remarkable;  he  drew  anatomical  subjects  with  great  accu- 
racy and  rapidity.  His  drawing  upon  the  blackboard  in  illustrating  his 
lectures,  was  most  effective.  His  diagrams  for  his  lectures  to  the 
undergraduates  of  Harvard  College  were  nearly  all  drawn  and  colored 
by  his   own   hand." 

As  president  of  the  Natural  History  Society  he  is  thus 
spoken  of:  "He  presided  with  the  gentleness  and  courtesy 
so  characteristic  of  him ;  he  was  always  ready  with  some  fact 
from  his  carefully  arranged  storehouse  to  confirm  or  disprove 
statements  made  before  the  Society.  He  was  patient  of  igno- 
rant contradictions,  sure  of  final  approbation;  never  captious; 
never  annihilating  his  tyro  antagonist,  as  he  easily  could,  by 
the  weight  of  his  scientific  blows.  His  benign  countenance 
many  a  time  has  checked  the  rising  excitement  of  hot  discus- 
sion." Alexander  Agassiz  has  written  of  Wyman:  "He 
never  took  part  in  any  controversy.  Unless  he  could  add 
something  of  importance  to  the  memoirs  of  his  predecessors, 
he  never  allowed  himself  to  print  his  observations  if  they  were 
mere    confirmations."      Holmes     adds,     "Professor     Wyman 


822  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

would  have  been  more  famous  if  he  had  been  less  modest. 
Whether  it  be  true  or  not  that  the  world  knows  not  its  great- 
est men,  it  certainly  knows  very  little  of  many  of  its  best 
men;  nothing  at  all  of  its  best  women.  *  *  *  Professor 
Wyman  did  a  man's  work  with  a  woman's  patience,  meekness, 
fidelity,  and  noiseless  efficiency.  *  *  *  He  was  too  good 
a  man  for  any  creed  to  confiscate  his  virtues  to  its  private 
exchequer."  The  spirit  which  pervaded  all  his  scientific  work 
is  summed  up  in  this  aphorism,  "No  single  experiment  in 
physiology  is  worth  anything."  As  a  teacher  Wyman  was 
simple  and  unpretentious  and  clear;  he  rarely  failed  to  con- 
vince his  hearers.  D.  Humphreys  Storer  said  of  him:  "I 
never  knew  a  gentler,  purer,  nobler  spirit.  As  a  brother  I 
loved  him,  and  I  mourn  him." 

Upon  the  death  of  Jeffries  Wyman,  the  Corporation  of 
Harvard  University  voted : 

'  That  the  President  and  Fellows  desire  to  record  their  sense  of  the 
great  loss  which  the  University  has  sustained  in  the  death  of  Professor 
Wyman,  and  to  express  their  sympathy  with  the  family  and  friends  in 
their  sudden  bereavement. 

'  They  recall  with  affectionate  respect  and  admiration  the  sagacity, 
patience  and  rectitude  which  characterized  all  his  scientific  work,  his 
clearness,  accuracy  and  conciseness  as  a  writer  and  teacher,  and  the 
industry  and  zeal  with  which  he  labored  upon  the  two  admirable  collec- 
tions which  remain  as  monuments  to  his  rare  knowledge,  method  and 
skill. 

"  They  commend  to  the  young  men  of  the  University  this  signal  example 
of  a  character,  modest,  tranquil,  dignified  and  independent,  and  of  a  life 
simple,  contented  and  honored." 

The  following  list  of  Wyman's  writings  has  been  compiled 
from  the  Royal  Society's  list,  with  additions  from  F.  W.  Put- 
nam and  A.  S.  Packard  : 

i.  'On  the  Indistinctness  of  Images  formed  by  Oblique  Vision."  Bos- 
ton Medical  and  Surgical  Journal.     Sept.,  1837. 

2.  "  On  Fossil  Bones  from  Georgia  and  Burmah,  and  a  Recent  Ele- 
phant's Tooth  from  Singapore."  American  Journal  Science,  xxxvi,  1839, 
pp.  385-386. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  823 

3.  "  Note  on  a  Collection  of  Fossil  Bones  from  Athens."  Am.  Jour. 
Sci.,   July,    1839;     Proc.    Boston    Soc.   Nat.   Hist.,    1839. 

4.  "  Remarks  on  the  Worms  in  Measly  Pork."  Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  July, 
1839;    Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.,  1839. 

5.  "  Remarks  on  a  Bat,  Molossus  ater,"  etc.,  from  Surinam.  Am.  Jour. 
Sci.,  July,  1839.     Proc.  Boston  Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  1839. 

6.  "  Notice  of  the  Tooth  of  a  Mastodon."  Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  xxxix, 
1840,  pp.  53-54. 

7.  "  On  the  Anatomy  of  Tcbennophorus  carolinensis."  Boston  Proc. 
Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  i,  1841-44,  pp.  154-155;  Boston,  Jour.  Nat.  Hist.,  iv, 
1843-44,  pp.  410-415- 

8.  "  On  the  Anatomy  of  Otion  cuvieri  Leach."  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat. 
Hist,  1840.     Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  xxxix,  p.  182.     June,  1840. 

9.  "  On  a  Species  of  Filiaria  in  the  Lungs  of  a  Sheep."  Proc.  Boston 
Soc.  Nat.  Hist.,  1840.     Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  xxxix,  p.  183.     Oct.,  1840. 

10.  "  Report  on  Nautilus  Umbilicatus."  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist., 
Feb.  19,  1840;    Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  xxxix,  p.  185.     Oct.,  1840. 

11.  "On  Buried  Wood,  Unio,  etc.,  in  River  Sand  at  Lowell."  Proc 
Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.,  July  15,  1840;  Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  xl,  p.  388.  March, 
1841. 

12.  "  Note  on  the  Cranium  of  a  Seal  (Stcnorhynchus  leptunyx)  from 
the  South  Pacific."  Proc.  Boston  Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  Jan.  20,  1841  ;  Am. 
Jour.   Sci.,  xl,  p.  390.     March,  1841. 

13.  "Notice  of  the  Howling  Monkey  (Simia  seniculus)."  Am.  Jour. 
Sci.,  xl,  1841,  pp.  387-388. 

14.  "On  the  Anal  Pouches  of  the  Skunk  (Mephitis  Americana)." 
Boston,  Proc.  Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  i,  1841-44,  p.  no. 

15.  "On  the  Sternum  of  a  Male  Trumpeter  Swan  (Cygnus  buccinator)." 
Boston,  Proc.  Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  i,  1841-44,  p.  119. 

16.  "  On  the  Microscopic  Structure  of  the  Teeth  of  the  Lepidosteus 
and  their  Analogies  with  those  of  the  labryinthodonts "  (with  a  plate). 
Boston  Proc.  Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  i,  1841-44,  pp.  131-132.  Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  xlv, 
1843,  pp.  359-363;   London  Physiol.  Jour.,  1843-44  (?). 

17.  "Review  of  Vogt*s  Embryologie  des  Salmones."  Am.  Jour.  Sci.,. 
xlv,  pp.  211-214.     June,   1843. 

18.  "  Notice  of  the  Zoology  of  New  York."  By  J.  E.  DeKay.  Am 
Jour.   Sci.,    xlv.   pp.  397-399-     Sept.,    1843. 

19.  "Notice  of  Agassiz's  Monographies  and  Echinodermes  Vivans  et 
Fossiles."    Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  xlv,  pp.  399-400.     Sept.,   1843. 

20.  "On  the  Anatomical  Structure  of  Gladina  truncata,"  Say.  Boston, 
Proc.  Nat.  Mist.  Soc,  i,  1841-44,  pp.  154-155;  Boston  Jour.  Nat.  Mist., 
iv,  1843-44,  PP-  416-421. 


824  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

21.  "Description  of  a  Blind  Fish  from  a  Cave  in  Kentucky."  Am. 
Jour.  Sci.,  xlv,  1843,  PP-  94-96. 

22.  (With  Thomas  S.  Savage.)  "Observations  on  the  External  Char- 
acters, Habits  and  Organization  of  the  Troglodytes  Niger,"  Geof.  Boston 
Jour.   Nat.  Hist.,  iv,   1843-44,  PP-  362-376,  377-386. 

23.  "  On  Echinorhynchus  Nodosus."  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist., 
Jan.  4,  1843. 

24.  "  On  a  Rotifer  and  Tardigrades."  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist., 
Feb.  1,  1843. 

25.  "  Linguatula  from  a  Boa."  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.,  March  1, 
1843. 

26.  "  Ascarides  from   Cyclopterus."     March  1,   1843. 

27.  "  Description  of  a  New  Species  of  Torpedo."  Proc.  Am.  Acad. 
Arts  and  Sciences.     April  25,  1843. 

28.  Annual  address  as  president  of  the  Boston  Society  of  Natural 
History.    May  17,  1843. 

29.  "  On  Spongia  Fluviatilis."  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.  Sept. 
4,  1844. 

30.  (With  Thomas  S.  Savage.)  "  Notice  of  the  External  Characters, 
Habits  and  Osteology  of  Troglodytes  gorilla,"  a  new  species  of  ourang 
from  the  Gaboon  river.  Boston  Jour.  Nat.  Hist.,  v,  1845-47,  PP-  417-422; 
Ann.  Sci.  Nat.,  xvi  (Zoo!.),  1851,  pp.  176-182;  Boston,  Proc.  Nat.  Hist. 
Soc,  ii,  1845-48,  pp.  245-248;    Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  viii,  1849,  pp.  141-142. 

31.  "On  the  Spiculae  of  Actinia."  Boston,  Proc.  Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  ii, 
1845-48,  pp.  51-52. 

32.  "  Linguatula  Armillnta  and  L.  Clavata."  Boston,  Proc.  Nat.  Hist. 
Soc,  ii,  1845-48,  p.  59 ;    Boston,  Jour.  Nat.  Hist.,  v,  1845,  PP-  255-296. 

33.  "  On  the  Fossil  Skeleton  recently  exhibited  in  New  York  as  that 
of  a  Sea  Serpent  under  the  name  of  Hydrarchos  Sillimani."  Boston, 
Proc.   Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  ii,   1845-48,  pp.   65-68. 

34.  "  On  the  Fossil  Cranium  and  Lower  Jaw  of  an  Extinct  Rodent." 
Boston,  Proc.  Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  ii,  1845-48,  pp.  138-139. 

35.  "  A  New  Species  of  Troglodytes."  Silliman  Jour.,  v,  1848,  pp. 
106-107. 

36.  "On    Two    Malformed    Cods'    Skulls."      Boston,    Proc.    Nat.    Hist. 

* 

Soc,   iii,   1848-51,  pp.   178-179. 

37.  (With  James  Hal!.)  "Notice  of  the  Geological  Position  of  the 
Cranium  of  the  Cast  oroides  ohiocensis ;"  also  an  anatomical  description  of 
the  same.  Boston  Jour.  Nat.  Hist.,  v.  1845-47,  pp.  385-401  ;  Bibl.  Univ. 
Archives,   ix,   1848,   pp.    165-167. 

38.  (With  E.  N.  Horsford.)  "On  Valerianate  of  Morphia."  Am. 
Assn.  Proc.  1849,  pp.  92-93. 

39.  Twelve  lectures  on  Comparative  Anatomy.  Delivered  at  the 
Lowell  Institute,  Boston,  January  and  February,  1849. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  825 

40.  "A  Description  of  Two  Additional  Crania  of  the  Enge-ena"  (Trog- 
lodytes gorilla.  Savage  and  Wyman)  from  Gaboon,  Africa.  1849.  Boston, 
Proc.  Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  iii.  1848-51,  p.  179;  Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  ix,  1850,  pp. 
34-45 ;    Edinb.   New   Phil.  Jour.,  xlviii,   1850,  pp.  273-286. 

41.  '"'On  the  Foot  of  a  Species  of  Musk"  (Moschus).  Boston,  Proc. 
Nat.  Hist.   Soc,  iii,  1848-51,  p.  203. 

42.  "  On  the  Jet  from  the  Blow-holes  of  Whales."  Boston,  Proc.  Nat. 
Hist.  Soc,  iii,  1848-51,  p.  228. 

43.  "  On  some  Fossils  from  the  Mississippi  Alluvium  at  Memphis." 
Boston,  Proc.  Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  iii,  1848-51,  pp.  280-281  ;  Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  x, 
1850,  pp.  56-64. 

44.  "  On  the  Embryo  of  Balaam  mysticetus."  Boston,  Proc.  Nat.  Hist. 
Soc,  iii,  1848-51,  p.  355- 

45.  "  Notice  of  the  Cranium  of  the  Ne-hoo-le,  a  new  species  of  manatee 
(Manalus  nasutus),  from  West  Africa."  1849.  Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  ix,  1850, 
pp.  45-47;    Proc.  Am.  Acad,  of  Arts  and  Sciences. 

46.  "  Notice  of  Remains  of  Vertibrated  Animals  found  at  Richmond, 
Va."     Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  x,   1850,  pp.  228-235. 

47.  "  Effect  of  the  Absence  of  Light  on  the  Development  of  Tadpoles." 
Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.     April,  1853. 

48.  "  On  the  Shell  and  Sternum  of  the  Trionyx  fcrox."  Boston,  Proc. 
Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  iv,  1851-54,  p.   10. 

49.  "  On  the  Spinal  Cord  of  Bats."     Boston,  Proc.  Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  iv, 

1851-54,  P-  35- 

50.  "  On    the    Development   of   Distomata."     Boston,    Proc.    Nat.    Hist. 

Soc,  iv,  185 t -54,  pp.  65-66. 

51.  "  On  the  Brain  and  Spinal  Cord  of  the  Lump-fish."  Boston,  Proc. 
Soc.  Nat.  Hist.,  iv,  1851-54,  pp.  82-83. 

52.  "  On    the   Crania  of  Indians."     Boston,   Proc   Nat.   Hist.   Soc,   iv, 

1851-54,  PP-  83-84. 

53.  "  On  the  Sudden  Bursting  and  Scattering  of  Seeds  of  the  Capsule 
of  the  Common  Garden  Balsam."  Boston,  Proc.  Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  iv,  1851- 
54,  pp.  106-107. 

54.  "Results  of  Microscopic  Examination  of  the  Structure  of  the  Brain 
and  Spinal  Cord  in  Frogs."  Boston,  Proc  Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  iv,  1851-54, 
p.  107. 

55.  "On  iln'  Anatomy  of  Carcharias  Obscurus."  Boston,  Proc.  Nat. 
Hist.  Soc,  in,  1851-54,  pp.  123-124. 

56.  "On  the  Brain  of  Lophius  A meridians,  Cuvier."  Boston,  Proc. 
Nat.    Hist.    Soc,    iv.    1N51-54.   pp.    140-151- 

57.  "On   the    Eye  and   the  Origan   of   Hearing   in   tin-    Blind    Fishes" 
(Amblyopsis  spelaeus,   Dekay)    of  the   Mammoth   Cave.       Boston,    Proc 
Nat.   Hist.  Soc.  iv,   [851-1854,  pp.  395-396;  Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  xvii,   [854,  pp. 


826  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

258-261;    Boston   Proc.   Nat.   Hist.    Soc,   v,    1854-56,   pp.    18-19;    Muller's 
Archiv,   1853,  pp.  574-576. 

58.  "  Description  of  the  Post-mortem  Appearances  in  the  Case  of  Dan- 
iel Webster."     Am.  Jour.  Med.  Sci.,  Jan.,  1853. 

59.  "  Notes  on  the  Remains  of  Dcndrerpeton  acadiannm  from  the  Coal- 
measures  of  Nova  Scotia."     Geol.  Soc.  Jour.,  ix,  1853,  pp.  64-66. 

60.  "  Anatomy  of  the  Nervous  System  of  Rana  pipiens."  1852.  Smith- 
sonian Contrb.,  v,  1853. 

61.  "Description  of  the  Interior  of  the  Cranium  and  of  the  form  of  the 
Brain  of  Mastodon  giganteus."    Silliman  Jour.,  xv,  1853,  pp.  48-55. 

62.  "  Observation  on  the  Development  of  the  Surinam  Toad."  (Pipa 
Americana)  Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  xvii,  1854,  PP-  369-374;  Boston,  Proc.  Nat. 
Hist.  Soc,  v,  1854-56,  pp.  13-14. 

63.  "  On  the  Electrical  Organs  of  Torpedo  occidentalis."  Boston,  Proc. 
Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  v.,  1854-56,  pp.  21-22. 

64.  "Researches  on  the  Structure  of  the  Heart  and  the  Physiology 
of  the  Respiration  in  the  Menobranehus  and  Batrachians."  Boston,  Proc 
Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  v,  1854-56,  pp.  51-52. 

65.  "On  the  Development  of  Anableps  gronovii."  Boston,  Proc.  Nat. 
Hist.   Soc,   v,   1854-56,  pp.  80-81 ;    Boston  Jour.    Nat.   Hist.,  vi,   1857,   pp. 

432-443. 

66.  "  Parasitic  Plant  on  the  Common  House-fly."     Boston,  Proc.  Nat. 

Hist.  Soc,  v,  1854-56,  p.  90. 

67.  "On  the  Vagus  of  Tadpoles."  Boston,  Proc.  Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  v, 
1854-56,  pp.  1 19-120. 

68.  "  Observations  on  Hybernating  Insects."  Boston,  Proc.  Nat.  Hist. 
Soc,  v,  1854-56,  p.  157. 

69.  "  Remarks  on  the  Foetal  Zygaena."  Boston,  Proc.  Nat.  Hist.  Soc, 
v,  1854-56,  p.  157. 

70.  "On  the  Wing  of  the  Pin-tailed  Ducks"  (Anas  acuta.)  Boston, 
Proc.  Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  v,  1854-56,  p.  169. 

71.  "On  the  Formation  of  Ram  Impressions  in  Clay."  Boston,  Proc. 
Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  v,  1854-56,  pp.  253-254;  Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  xxi.  1856,  p.   175. 

72.  "  On  Footprints  Discovered  by  Prof.  H.  D.  Rogers."  Boston, 
Proc.  Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  v,  1854-56,  pp.  258-259. 

jt,.  "Dissection  of  a  Black  Chimpanzee"  (Troglodytes  nigcr.)  Bos- 
ton, Proc.  Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  v,  1854-56,  pp.  274-275. 

74.  "Observations  on  Scaphiopus."  Boston,  Proc.  Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  v, 
1854-56.  pp.  382-83. 

75.  "On  the  Development  of  the  Dorsal  Cord  in  the  Alewife."  Bos- 
ton, Proc.  Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  v,  1854-56,  pp.  394-395- 

76.  "  Notice  of  Fossil  Bones  from  the  Red  Sandstone  of  the  Connecti- 
cut  River  Valley."     Am.  Jour.   Sci..   xx.    1855,  pp.   394"397- 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  827 

77.  "  Description  of  some  instances  of  Nerves  passing  across  the  Mid- 
dle line  of  the  Body." 

78.  "  Note  on  the  Teeth  of  an  Elephant  discovered  near  Zanesville, 
Ohio."     Am.  Assn.  Adv.  Sci.   Proa,  1856    (pt.  2),  pp.   169-172. 

79.  "  On  the  Batrachian  Reptile  from  the  Coal  Formation."  Am. 
Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.  Proc,  1856  (pt.  2),  pp.  172-173. 

80.  "On   Raindrop   Marks."     Silliman   Jour,   xxi,    1856,   p.   145. 

81.  "Memoir  of  Dr.  John  C.  Warren."  Boston,  Proc.  Soc.  Nat.  Hist., 
Dec.  17,  1856. 

82.  "  Examination  of  the  Bagrt."  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.,  Dec. 
16,  1857. 

83.  "  Account  of  some  Fossil  Bones  collected  in  Texas."  Boston, 
Proc.  Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  vi,  1856-59,  pp.  51-54. 

84.  "  Description  of  a  Cyclopean  Pig."  Boston,  Proc.  Nat.  Hist.  Soc, 
vi,  1856-59,  pp.  380-382;  also  March  18,  1863. 

85.  "  Species  of  Fishes  from  the  Surinam  River."  Proc.  Boston  Nat. 
Hist.  Soc,  Sept.   16,  1857. 

86.  "  On  the  Cancellated  Structure  of  some  of  the  Bones  of  the  Human 
Body."     1849.     Boston,  Jour.   Soc.   Nat.   Hist.,   vi,   1857,  pp.   125-140. 

87.  "  On  Some  Remains  of  Batrachian  Reptiles  discovered  in  the  Coal 
Formation  of  Ohio."     Silliman  Jour.,  xxv,  1858,  pp.  158-164. 

88.  "  Account  of  the  Dissection  of  a  Human  Foetus.  Proc.  Boston 
Soc.  Nat.  Hist.     Feb.  3,  1858. 

89.  "  Results  of  some  Examinations  of  a  large  number  of  Foetal  Pigs." 
Froc  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.     April  7,  1S58. 

90.  "  On  Several  Parasites  found  in  the  American  Deer." 

91.  "Remarks  on  the  Death  of  Dr.  Francis  W.  Cragin."  Proc.  Boston 
Soc.  Nat.  Hist.     Sept.  15,  1858. 

92.  "  Observations  on  the  Shedding  of  the  Antlers  of  the  American 
Red   Deer."     Proc.   Boston   Soc    Nat.   Hist.     Oct.    19,    1859. 

93.  "  Observations  on  the  Habits  of  a  species  of  Hornet  (Vespa)  which 
builds  its  nest  in  the  ground."  Boston  Proc  Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  vii,  1859-61, 
pp.  411-418. 

94.  "  Account  of  the  Collection  of  Gorillas  made  by  Mr.  Du  Chaillu." 
Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.     Jan.  4.  i860. 

95.  "On  some  Unusual  Modes  of  Gestation  in  Batrachians  and  Fishes." 
Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  xxvii,  [859,  pp.  5-13;  Canadian  Naturalist,  v,  i860,  pp 
42-49  Newman's  Zoologist,  xviii,  i860,  pp.  7l7y7*79- 

96.  "On  Two  Parasites."  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.  April  18, 
i860. 

97.  "On  the  Poison  Apparatus  of  the  Rattlesnake."  Proc.  Boston  Soc. 
Nat.  Hist.     May  16,  i860. 

98.  "On  a  Fossil  from  the  Southwest  Frontier  of  the  United  States" 
Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.     Sept.  19,  i860. 


828  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

99.  "  On  a  Partially  Double  Pig."  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.  Feb. 
20,  1861. 

100.  "On  the  Mode  of  Formation  of  the  Rattle  of  the  Rattlesnake." 
Proc.   Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.     March  6,  1861. 

101.  "  On  the  Presentation  to  the  Society  by  Dr.  William  J.  Walker 
of  the  Estate  Recently  Occupied  by  him."  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist. 
Aug.  1861. 

102.  "  On  the  Bones  of  a  Gorilla  recently  obtained  in  Western  Equa- 
torial Africa."     Proc.   Boston  Nat.  Hist.  Soc.     Oct.  2,  1861. 

103.  "  On  the  Bones  of  a  Supernumerary  leg  from  a  Goose."  Proc. 
Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.     Nov.  20,  1861. 

104.  "  Dissection  of  a  Hottentot."  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.  April 
2,  1862. 

105.  "On  Larvae  of  Dactylethra  capensis."  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat. 
Hist.     Sept.   17,  1862. 

106.  "  On  the  Reproduction  of  Lost  Parts  in  Planaria."  Proc.  Boston 
Soc.  Nat.  Hist.     Sept.  17,  1862. 

107.  "  On  Eggs  of  Salamanders."  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.  Oct. 
15,  1862. 

108.  "  On  a  Remarkable  Case  of  Poisoning.  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat. 
Hist.     Oct.  15,  1862. 

109.  "  On  the  Development  of  the  Human  Embryo."  Proc.  Boston 
Soc.  Nat.  Hist.     Dec.  3,  1862. 

no.  "Experiments  on  the  Formation  of  Infusoria  in  Boiled  Solutions 
of  Organic  Matter,  enclosed  in  hermetically  sealed  vessels  and  supplied 
with  pure  air."  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  xxxiv,  1862,  pp.  79-87;  Chemical  News, 
vi,  1862,  pp.  109-112;  Jour.  Microsc.  Soc,  iii,  1863,  pp.  109-120;  Proc. 
Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.     May  22,   1862. 

in.  "On  Two  Cases  of  Monstrosity  in  Serpents."  Proc.  Boston  Soc. 
Nat.  Hist.     Jan.  21.  1863. 

112.  "  O11  Localization  of  species."  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.  May 
20,  1863. 

113.  "On  the  Sea-serpent."  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.  June  3. 
1863. 

114.  "On  the  Mode  of  Impregnation  of  the  Ova  in  Pomotis."  Proc. 
Boston   Soc.   Nat.   Hist.     June   17,   1863. 

115.  "On  Amphinxus."     Proc.   Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.     Dec.  2,   1863. 

116.  "Description  of  a  'White  Fish'  or  'White  Whale'  (Beluga 
borealis)   Lesson."     Boston,  Jour.   Nat.   Hist.,  vii,   1863,  pp.  603-612. 

117.  "Observations  on  Pentastoma  (Linguatula  Rudolphi),  armilhta. 
Wyman.  which  infests  the  lungs  of  the  python  sebec  of  Africa."  Boston, 
Proc.  Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  ix,  1863.  pp.  179-181. 

118.  "Observations  on  the  Cranium  of  a  Young  Gorilla."  Boston, 
Proc.  Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  iv,  1863,  pp.  203-206. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  829 

119.  "On  the  Mechanism  of  the  Tibio-tarsal  Joint  of  the  Ostrich." 
Boston,  Proc.  Nat.  Hist.  Soc,  ix,  1863,  pp.  220-221. 

120.  "  Observations  recently  made  on  an  Amoeba."  1863.  Proc.  Bos- 
ton   Soc.    Nat.   Hist.,   ix,    1865,   pp.   281-283;    Ann.    Mag.    Nat.   Hist.,   xiv, 

1864,  pp.  394-395- 

121.  "  On  the  Development  of  Skates,  and  especially  of  Raia  batis." 
1863.  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.,  ix,  1863,  pp.  334-335;  Ann.  Mag. 
Nat.   Hist.,   xiv,    1864,   pp.  399-400;    Am.    Acad.    Mem.,   ix    (pt.    1),    1867, 

PP-  31-44- 

122.  "  On  the  Skeleton  of  a  Hottentot."  1863.  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat. 
Hist.,   ix,   1865,   pp.   352-357;    Anthropol.   Review,   iii,    1865,   pp.   330-335- 

123.  "  On  Reptilian  Bones  from  the  New  Red  Sandstone  at  Middle- 
bury,  Conn."     Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.     June  1,  1864. 

124.  "  On  Malformations."  Boston,  Proc.  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.  Oct.  19, 
1864. 

125.  "  On  Indian  mounds  of  the  Atlantic  Coast."  Proc.  Bost.  Soc. 
Nat.  Hist.,  Nov.  2,  1864. 

126.  "  On  Accommodation   of  the   Eye."     Proc.   Bost.   Soc.    Nat.   Hist. 

Feb.  1,  1865. 

127.  "  On  the  Power  of  Vibrio,  &c,  to  resist  the  action  of  boiling 
water."     Proc.   Bost.    Soc.   Nat.   Hist.     Feb.   1,   1865. 

128.  "  On  the  Formation  of  Ripple  Marks."  Proc.  Bost.  Soc.  Nat. 
Hist.  Sept.  20,  1865. 

129.  "  On  the  Human  Arterial  System."  Proc.  Bost.  Soc.  Nat.  Hist. 
Nov.  15,  1865. 

130.  "  On  the  Reproduction  of  lost  parts  in  Animals."  Proc.  Boston 
Soc.  Nat.  Hist.     Jan.  17,  1866. 

131.  "Dissection  of  a  Young  Pigeon."  Proc.  Bost.  Soc.  Nat.  Hist. 
June  20,  1866. 

132.  "  On  the  Distorted  Skull  of  a  Child  from  the  Hawaiian  Islands." 
Proc.  Bost.  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.     Oct.  17,  1866. 

133.  "Development  of  Moulds  in  the  Interior  of  Eggs."  1865.  Proc. 
Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.,  x,  1866,  pp.  41.  97-98. 

134.  "On  the  Fossil  Bones  recently  collected  near  Rio  Bamba.  South 
America."  By  Dr.  C  F.  Winslow.  1865.  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist., 
x,   1866,  pp.    105-107. 

135.  "Description  of  a  Double  Fcetus."  Boston  Med.  &  Surg.  Jour.. 
March  29,  1866. 

136.  "Description  of  an  Anencephalous  Fcetus  with  unusual  malforma- 
tion."    Boston  Med.  &  Surg.  Jour.     June,  1866. 

137.  "  Notice  of  Observations  on  Respiration  in  the  Chelonia."  By  S. 
Wier  Mitchell,  M.  D..  and  George  N.  Morehouse,  M.  D. 

138.  "Notice  of  Richard  Owen's  Monograph  of  the  Aye-aye,  with 
remarks  on  the  Origin  of  Species." 


830  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

139.  "  Account   of   some    Irregularities   noticeable   in   the    Cells   of   the 
Hive-bee."     1865.     Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.,  1866,  pp.  234-235. 

140.  "  Observations  and  Experiments  on  Living  Organisms  in  heated 
water."     Am.  Jour.  Sci.  xliv,  1867,  pp.  152-169. 

141.  "  Measurements  of  some  Human  Crania."  Proc.  Bost.  Soc.  Nat. 
Hist.     Nov.  20,  1867. 

142.  "  Examination  of  the  Animals  of  the  New  England  Shell  Heaps." 
Proc.   Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.     Dec.  4,  1867. 

143.  "  Account  of  the  Shell  Mounds  of  Florida."  Proc.  Boston  Soc. 
Nat.  Hist.     April  17,  1867. 

144.  "  Account  of  the  Life  and  Scientific  Career  of  Dr.  A.  A.  Gould." 
Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.     May  1,  1867. 

145.  "  Description  of  the  Shell  Heaps  at  Salisbury,  Mass."  Proc.  Bos- 
ton Soc.  Nat.  Hist.     May  15,  1867. 

146.  "  Destruction  of  a  Male  Spider  by  the  Female."  Proc.  Boston 
Soc.  Nat.  Hist.     Sept.  18,  1867. 

147.  "  Account  of  a  Visit  to  an  Indian  Shell  Heap  near  Mount  Desert, 
Me."     Proc.   Boston   Soc.    Nat.   Hist.     Sept.   18,   1867. 

148.  "  On  the  Flint  Implements  from  Northern  Europe."  Proc.  Boston 
Soc.  Nat.  Hist.     Oct.  2,  1867. 

149.  "  Shell  Heaps  on  Goose  Island,  Casco  Bay,  Maine."  Proc.  Boston 
Soc.  Nat.  Hist.     Oct.  2,  16,  1867. 

150.  "On  the  Occurrence  of  Eels  in  the  Abdominal  Cavity  of  the 
Cod."     Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.     Jan.   15,  1868. 

151.  "  On  the  Inscription  of  the  Dighton  Rock."  Proc.  Boston  Soc. 
Nat.  Hist.     Dec.  2,  1868. 

152.  "On  Nautilus  pompilius."  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.  Dec. 
16,  1868. 

153.  "  Notes  on  the  Cells  of  the  Bee."  1866.  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat. 
Hist.  Jan.  17,  1866.  Proc.  Am.  Acad.  Arts  and  Sci.,  Boston,  vii,  1868, 
pp.  68-83. 

154.  "  An  Account  of  Some  Kjcekkenmceddings,  or  Shell  Heaps  in 
Maine  and   Massachusetts."     American   Naturalist,   i,    1868,  pp.   561-584. 

155.  "  On  the  Morphology  of  the  Leaves  of  the  Pitcher-plant,  and 
especially  of  Sarracenia."  1866.  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.,  xi,  1868, 
pp.  246-278. 

156.  "On  the  Symmetry  and  Homology  in  Limbs."  1867.  Proc.  Bos- 
ton Soc.  Nat.  Hist.,  xi,  1868,  pp.  246-278. 

157.  "  Observations  on  Crania."  Proc.  Bost.  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.,  xi,  1868, 
pp.  440-462. 

158.  "On  the  Fresh-water  Shell  Heaps  of  the  St.  John's  river,  East 
Florida."     American  Naturalist,  ii,  1869,  pp.  393-403.  449-463. 

159.  "On  a  Thread  Worm  (Filaria  anhinga)  infesting  the  brain  of 
the  Snake  Bird"   (Blolus  anhinga.)     1868.     Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  831 

xii,  1869,  pp.   100-104.     Monthly  Microscopical  Jour.,  ii,  1869,  pp.  215-216. 

160.  "  On  the  Head  of  a  Crocodile,  C.  acutus,  obtained  in  the  Miami 
river."     Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.     May  19,  1869. 

161.  "  On  the  Existence  of  a  Crocodile  in  Florida."  Am.  Jour.  Sci., 
xlix,  1870,  pp.  105-106. 

162.  "  Experiments  with  Vibrating  Cilia."  Am.  Naturalist,  v,  1871, 
pp.  611-616  Monthly  Microscopical  Jour.,  vii,  1871,  pp.  80-81. 

163.  "  On  the  Brain  of  Didclphys  Virginiana."  Mem.  Boston  Soc.  Nat. 
Hist.,  ii,  1872,  pp.  151-154. 

164.  "  Change  of  Habit  "  (in  cows,  etc.,  grazing  under  water  in  Flor- 
ida.)    Am.  Naturalist,  viii,  p.  237.     April,  1874. 

165.  "  Human  Remains  in  the  Shell  Heaps  of  the  St.  John's  river, 
East    Florida.     Cannibalism."     Am.    Naturalist,    viii,    p.    403-414.     July    1, 

1874. 

166-173.  First  Seven  Annual  Reports  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Peabody 
Museum  of  American  Archaeology  and   Ethnology.     Cambridge,   1868-74. 

174.  "  Remarks  on  Cannibalism  among  the  American  Aborigines." 
Proc.  Bost.  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.     May  20,  1874. 

175.  "  Fresh-water  Shell  Mounds  of  the  St.  John's  river,  Florida. 
Fourth  memoir.  Peabody  Academy  of  Sci.  Salem,  Mass.  1875.  pp.  94, 
pi.  i-ix. 

MORRILL  WYMAN. 

Morrill  Wyman  was  born  at  Chelmsford,  Massachusetts, 
July  25,  18 1 2,  and  was  the  second  son  of  Rufus  Wyman 
(A.  B.  1799;  M.  B.  1804).  Morrill  Wyman  and  his  brother 
Jeffries  were  in  College  together,  both  graduating  from  Har- 
vard in  the  class  of  1833.  Soon  afterwards,  Morrill  Wyman 
entered  the  office  of  William  J.  Walker,  of  Charlestown,  a 
leading  surgeon  of  Massachusetts  in  his  day.  Later  he  studied 
at  the  Harvard  Medical  School,  whence  he  and  his  brother 
again  were  graduated  together  in  1837.  After  this  he  was 
house-pupil  at  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  where  he 
served  for  one  year,  and  then  began  practice  at  Cambridge  in 
1838.  There  he  practiced  until  he  was  more  than  eighty  years 
of  age.  In  1839  Wyman  married  Elizabeth  Aspinwall  Pul- 
sifer,  the  daughter  of  Captain  Robert  S.  Pulsifer,  a  Boston 
ship-master. 

It  is  difficult  to  discuss  separately  the  two  brothers,  Jeff- 


832  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

ries  and  Morrill  Wyman.  Although  they  chose  different  lines 
of  work  in  medicine,  both  exhibited  the  strong  qualities  of 
mind  which  characterized  their  father.  Devotion  to  work 
was  a  notable  trait  in  these  three  representatives  of  the  Har- 
vard School.  The  father  established  a  standard  for  humane 
treatment  of  the  insane  which  has  since  become  recognized 
as  best  for  that  class  of  unfortunates;  the  elder  son  devoted 
his  life  to  comparative  anatomy,  while  the  younger  carried 
into  his  large  and  active  practice  a  steadfast  love  for  his  work. 
With  him,  progress  was  life-long.  Educated  in  the  old  school 
long  before  the  more  modern  scientific  discoveries,  he  kept 
abreast  of  the  times,  while  always  conspicuous  for  his 
devotion  to  the  medical  classics.  The  interest  in  scientific 
questions  also  he  maintained  up  to  the  time  of  his  death. 

In  1846  Wyman  published  a  volume  of  400  pages  on  ven- 
tilation, a  treatise  founded  upon  a  careful  review  of  the  exist- 
ing knowledge  of  the  subject  as  well  as  upon  many  new  and 
valuable  experiments  of  his  own.  This  book  was  an  authority 
for  many  years.  Llis  most  important  contribution  to  medical 
science  was  made  in  1850.  For  some  years  before  that,  he 
had  been  considering  the  possibility  of  finding  a  substitute  for 
the  old  Hippocratic  thoracentesis  which  was  the  surgical  treat- 
ment for  pleural  effusions.  On  February  23,  1850,  by  means 
of  an  exploring  needle  and  canula  attached  to  a.  stomach  pump, 
he  removed  a  large  quantity  of  fluid  from  the  chest  of  a  pa- 
tient suffering  distressingly  from  an  effusion.  This  operation 
was  repeated  a  few  days  later  with  great  success,  after  which 
the  patient  made  a  good  recovery.  On  April  17  of  that 
year,  H.  I.  Bowditch,  who  had  been  carrying  on  the  same 
line  of  research,  though  independent  of  Wyman,  asked  the 
latter  to  operate  upon  a  patient  of  his  (Bowditch's)  in  the 
town  of  Woburn.  Bowditch  was  immediately  convinced  of  the 
value  of  the  operation  and  described  the  procedure  in  the 
April  number  of  the  "American  Journal  of  the  Medical  Sci- 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  833 

ences,"  1852.  In  this  article  he  gave  full  credit  to  Wyman  for 
priority.  In  his  subsequent  writings,  Bowditch  firmly  estab- 
lished the  simple  method  of  paracentesis  in  place  of  the  more 
difficult  and  serious  operation  of  Hippocrates. 

In  1853  John  Ware  asked  the  Corporation  of  Harvard  for 
an  Adjunct  Professor.  Accordingly,  on  August  27  of  that 
year,  Morrill  Wyman  was  appointed  Adjunct  Hersey  Profes- 
sor of  Theory  and  Practice.  This  position  he  held  until  Octo- 
ber 25th,  1856,  when  a  difference  of  opinion  among  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Faculty  resulted  in  his  resignation.  In  1863  he 
delivered  the  annual  address  before  the  Massachusetts  Med- 
ical Society.  His  subject  was  "The  Reality  and  Certainty 
of  Medicine,"  an  excellent  supplement  to  Holmes'  i860  ad- 
dress,* "Currents  and  Counter-currents  in  Medical  Sciences." 
In  1872  Wyman  published  a  volume  on  the  two  forms 
of  hay-fever,  an  affection  of  which  he  was  a  victim  annually. 
In  1875  he  was  elected  an  Overseer  of  Harvard  College,  and 
served  until  1887,  his  Alma  Mater  in  the  meantime  (1886) 
conferring  upon  him  the  LL.  D.  He  was  a  founder  of  the 
Cambridge  Hospital,  and  invented  a  system  of  individual  ven- 
tilation for  each  bed.  His  motto  for  the  hospital  was  "Man 
tends,  God  mends."  He  was  a  member  of  the  American  Acad- 
emy of  Arts  and  Sciences,  and  of  the  Societies  for  Medical 
Improvement  in  Cambridge  and  in  Boston.  He  was  for  many 
years  Consulting  Physician  to  the  Massachusetts  General  Hos- 
pital, the  Cambridge  Hospital,  and  the  Adams  Nervine  Hos- 
pital.    He  died  on  January  31,  1903. 

CHARLES  EDOUARD  BROWN-SEQUARD. 

Charles  E.  Brown-Sequard  was  born  in  Mauritius  Island 
in  1817,  and  was  the  s<>n  of  Edward  Brown,  of  Philadelphia. 
His  mother  was  a  French  lady  by  the  name  of  Sequard. 


*  Annual  discourse,  Massachusetts   Medical  Society. 


834  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

He  was  educated  in  Paris,  and  was  graduated  Bachelor  of 
Letters  from  the  University  there  in  1838,  receiving  his  de- 
gree of  Bachelor  of  Science  in  1839.  His  medical  studies 
were  pursued  at  the  Ecole  de  Medecine,  from  which  he  re- 
ceived the  M.  D.  in  1846.  From  the  time  of  his  graduation 
he  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  physiology  exclusively. 
One  may  mention  his  experiments  and  investigations  on  the 
conditions  and  functions  of  the  constituents  of  the  blood,  on 
animal  heat,  on  the  spinal  column  and  its  relations  to  diseases, 
on  the  muscular  system,  on  the  sympathetic  nerves  and  gang- 
lia, on  the  effect  of  the  removal  of  the  supra-renal  capsule, 
etc.,  etc.  Soon  after  his  graduation  he  become  a  Fellow  of 
the  Royal  College  of  Physicians,  London,  and  was  for  sev- 
eral years  head  of  the  London  Hospital  for  the  paralyzed  and 
epileptic.  In  1855  he  was  appointed  Professor  of  Physiology 
in  the  Medical  College  of  Virginia,  and  on  June  11,  1864, 
the  Corporation  of  Harvard  established  in  the  Medical  School 
the  Professorship  of  the  Physiology  and  Pathology  of  the 
Nervous  System,  to  which  chair  Brown-Sequard  was  elected. 
This  position  he  held  until  December  28,  1867.  He  then  re- 
turned to  Paris,  where  he  held  the  chair  of  Comparative  and 
Experimental  Pathology  at  the  Ecole  de  Medecine  from  1869 
to  1871.  In  1873  he  settled  in  New  York,  where  he  practiced 
until  1878;  then  he  succeeded  Claude  Bernard  as  Professor 
of  Experimental  Medicine  at  the  College  de  France. 

During  his  frequent  visits  to  this  country,  Brown-Sequard 
lectured  at  length  on  his  discoveries  and  methods  of  treatment, 
especially  in  obscure  diseases  of  the  spinal  column  and  nervous 
system.  In  1889  he  announced  the  discovery  of  the  "Elixir 
of  Life,"  indicating  a  process  of  rejuvenation  by  means  of 
the  subcutaneous  injection  of  a  certain  testicular  secretion. 
He  received  many  prizes  from  the  French  Academy  of  Sci- 
ence, and  was  the  author  of  many  works  on  his  specialty.  His 
"Lectures  on  the  Physiology  and  Pathology  of  the  Nervous 


HENRY   J.  BIGELOW. 

A.  B.  1837;  A.  M.;   M.  I).  1841;    !.!..  I).  1882. 

Professor  of  Surgery  1849-1882. 

Emeritus  1882-1890. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  835 

System,"  i860,  and  "Paralysis  of  the  Lower  Extremities," 
i860,  are  the  best  known  of  his  works.  He  was  editor  of  the 
"Journal  de  la  Physiologie  de  1' Homme  et  des  Animaux," 
also  of  the  "New  York  Archives  of  Scientific  and  Practical 
Medicine."  He  was  a  member  of  the  American  Academy  of 
Sciences.    He  died  in  Paris,  on  April  2,  1894. 

HENRY  JACOB  BIGELOW. 

Henry  J.  Bigelow  was  born  in  Boston  on  March  11,  18 18. 
He  was  a  son  of  that  Jacob  Bigelow,  first  Professor  of  Materia 
Medica  in  the  Medical  School,  and  Rumford  Professor  of  the 
Application  of  Science  to  the  Useful  Arts,  in  the  Academic 
department  of  the  University.  From  his  father,  Henry  J. 
Bigelow  inherited  great  physical  and  mental  vigor.  From 
his  mother  (Mary  Scollay  Bigelow)  he  received  a  strength 
of  character,  a  certain  gentleness  of  nature,  and  a  capacity 
for  work  which  made  him  a  leader  among  men,  an  opponent 
to  vivisection,  and  a  fighter  of  that  strength  which  will  not 
admit  defeat.  At  an  early  age  he  showed  remarkable  inge- 
nuity in  mechanics  and  a  fertility  in  inventiveness  which  stood 
by  him  through  life. 

Bigelow  entered  Harvard  College  in  1833.  when  he  was 
fifteen  years  old.  During  his  course  at  Cambridge  he  was  a 
member  of  many  clubs  and  societies,  and  took  part  in  the 
fieshman  rebellion  of  1834,  as  well  as  in  other  "events"  which 
brought  with  them  the  penalty  of  being  "rusticated,"  and  "pro- 
hibited from  all  connection  with  the  town  of  Cambridge  until 
the  Saturday  before  Commencement."  But  he  was  assigned 
"a  part"  in  the  Commencement  exercises  at  his  graduation  in 

[837- 

Bigelow  early  made  up  his  mind  to  study  medicine  and  to 

be  a  surgeon.  This  decision  shows  that  self-willed  deter- 
mination which  was  characteristic.     His  father  had  an  assured 


836  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

position  in  the  practice  of  medicine ;  his  father's  friends,  espe- 
cially James  Jackson  and  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  were  anx- 
ious to  help  the  son,  but  the  young  man  would  have  his  own 
way.  The  very  difficulties  pointed  out  seemed  rather  to  en- 
courage him,  and,  when  they  remonstrated,  "your  father  is  a 
medical,  not  a  surgical  practitioner.  You  want  to  forsake 
your  best  chance,  and  try  to  practice  in  that  corner  of  the 
room,  when  all  your  interests  and  opportunities  are  with  him, 
over  in  the  other  corner !"  Bigelow  answered  emphatically : 
"I'll  be  damned  if  I  won't  be  a  surgeon!" 

After  studying  medicine  with  his  father  and  later  at  Dart- 
mouth with  Holmes,  who  was  then  the  Professor  of  Anatomy 
and  Physiology  there,  he  was  appointed  house-pupil  at  the 
Massachusetts  General  Hospital  (1838-39).  While  at  Dart- 
mouth, Bigelow  developed  pulmonary  symptoms,  which  sent 
him  to  Cuba,  whence  he  went  to  Paris.  He  did  not  drop  his 
studies  during  this  absence,  and  was  qualified  to  receive  his 
M.  D.  at  Harvard  in  1841.  He  went  back  to  Paris  imme- 
diately for  further  study,  and  later  to  London. 

Here's  a  letter  from  him  at  the  age  of  twenty-four : 

"  Paris,  November  19,  1842. 
"MY  DEAR  FATHER:  I  have  just  received  your  kind  letter  of  No- 
vember 1.  You  say  that  happiness  does  not  consist  in  externals,  nor  in 
property.  It  is  a  fact  of  which  I  have  long  been  convinced.  The  happiest 
and  best  people  have  not  always  the  money. — for  instance,  Dr.  Boott,  and 
innumerable  others.  On  the  other  hand,  the  money  is,  much  of  it,  in  the 
hands  of  undeserving  and  ignorant  people.  I  say  the  same  to  myself  of 
health,  by  way  of  consolation.  It  is  a  little  world  that  we  live  in,  and 
our  position  among  j(S  temporalities  is  of  little  importance.  This  strikes 
one  when  one  hears  of  the  death  of  such  men  as  the  Due  d'Orlcans,  or 
the  Marquis  d'Aguado,  who  rolled  in  wealth  and  comfort  here,  and  who 
may  not  unlikely  have  found  their  level,  by  this  time,  below  many  of  the 
chiffoniers  who  die  of  cold  and  privation.  I  comfort  myself  too  by  com- 
paring little  things  with  great.  I  have  got  a  chronological  chart  upon 
which  I  find  America  occupying  ;i  square  inch  in  a  space  of  six  or  eight 
feet  filled  with  the  rising  and  crumbling  of  whole  nations  of  whom  we 
know   little   fir   nothing.     How   many  cases  perfectly   parallel   to   ours   have 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  837 

existed  in  the  five  thousand  years  of  the  world's  progress,  and  how  many 
more  will  occur,  of  neither  of  which  we  know  anything!  And  again, 
how  small  and  unimportant  are  our  troubles  compared  with  those  of  a 
majority  of  our  fellows!  Women  are  making  shirts  at  this  moment  in 
England  for  three  half-pence,  and  find  the  thread.  A  woman  went  to 
borrow  a  penny  to  buy  thread,  saying  that  she  and  her  husband  would 
have  to  wail  for  bread  until  she  got  her  three  half-pence  for  the  shirts  she 
was  making.  This  world  is  but  a  speck  in  the  system,  and  this  system 
among  other  systems,  and  I  but  a  speck  in  the  world.  Of  what  real  im- 
portance is  the  house  I  live  in,  or  the  manner  I  get  my  money  (honestly), 
or  the  amount  I  get,  since  one  hundred  years  hence  nobody  will  know 
anything  about  me?  The  great  end  and  principle  of  life  is  moral  ac- 
countability;  and   I   must   say   that   I   am  very   indifferent   to  the   opinion 

of  men  who  steal  their  money  like  Mr.  .  who  sacrifice  their  souls  to 

it  like  Mr.  ,  or  who,  having  amassed  it,  keep  their  sons  making  figures 

all  their  youth  to  the  exclusion  of  every  sort  of  expanded  knowledge,  like 

Mr.  .     Nevertheless.  I  am  aware  that  in  America  money  is  the  great 

pursuit ;  that  the  richest  man  is  the  most  respected ;  and  I  do  not  mean  to 
say  that  we  should  not  so  far  conform  to  people  around  us  as  to  give  it 
a  certain  amount  of  attention.  It  is  difficult  to  say  how  far  we  are  re- 
moved from  the  original  Christian  state,  which  gives  all  goods  to  the 
poor ;  but  I  believe  it  is  not  less  certain  that  we  live  in  a  most  distorted 
and  unnatural  condition  in  America,  where,  after  a  certain  conformity 
with  the  conventional  rules  of  morality,  a  man's,  and  especially  a  young 
man's,  merits  are  measured  by  his  thriftiness,  his  chance  of  making  money. 
What  would  a  man  like  Dr.  Boott  go  for  in  New  York,  or  what  does  Mr. 
Gannett  pass  for  in  Boston,  except  among  the  few?  They  are  excellent, 
sincerely  good  Christians  and  charitable  men.  Dr.  Boott  lacks  nothing 
but  thriftiness,  and  Mr.  Gannett,  besides  this  quality,  the  man-of-the- 
world  talents,  which  are  partly  its  cause  and  partly  its  results.  In  spite 
of  the  force  of  public  opinion,  in  spite  of  the  '  almighty  dollar.'  I  do  not 
see  the  reason  for  desponding  because  I  do  not  keep  pace  with  the  erro 
ous  notions  and  pursuits  of  people  around.  So  much  for  the  local  ideas 
which  magnify  in  our  country  the  presence  or  absence  of  properly.  I 
not  mean  to  deny  that  a  man,  as  a  general  rule,  in  a  savage  or  civil:  :ed 
state,  should  support  his  family;  hut  1  do  mean  to  say  that  the  accumu- 
lation of  a  greater  or  less  amount  of  property  has  not  the  real  value  which 
is  erroneously  attached  to  ii  in  our  country,  and  that  happiness  is  far 
from  being  in  proportion  to  it.  A  chance  which  could  not  he  foreseen 
has  willed  that  you  should  not  accumulate  money,  which  you.  Irom  your 
character,    talents,   and   your   industry,    had    a    right    i"  t;    but    tins 

event,  in  this  short  life.  i<  a  very  inconsiderable  one.  compared  with  iho>e 
of  the   real   and   long  one   which   is   to   come,      For   your   sake    1    regret    with 


838  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

all  ray  heart  that  you  could  not  have  amassed  money  enough  to  spend 
freely,  and  indulge  your  tastes;  but  none  of  your  children  will  regret  a 
moment  that  you  did  not  leave  them  a  son,  should  circumstances  so  will 
it.  They  will  remember  you  as  the  best  of  fathers  and  the  soundest  of 
men,  who  had  the  warmest  of  hearts,  a  most  cultivated  mind,  and  an  un- 
wavering principle  of  right  and  truth ;  and  there  are  few  who  leave  such  a 
character  behind  them.  As  to  what  the  world  will  say,  who  are  the  world 
who  take  it  upon  themselves  to  judge  between  you  and  your  family? 
They  are  men  of  property,  who  have  been  studying  account  books  and 
rates  of  interest  while  you  have  been  alleviating  pain  and  suffering ;  who 
have  ruined  their  friends  and  their  brothers  by  extorting  the  payment  of 
money,  while  you  have  diminished  your  bill  to  strangers  because  they 
found  it  inconvenient  to  pay  you,  and  have  visited  poor  people  without 
any  recompense  at  all.  They  are  not  the  men  to  stand  aloof  and  give  their 
decisions. 

"  My  dear  father,  I  send  this  fragment  of  an  unfinished  letter,  which  I 
had  laid  by  to  finish,  because  it  expresses  a  part,  though  a  small  part  of 
what  I  should  like  to  write  to  you  if  I  were  well  enough  to  write  a  long 
letter.  "  Your  affectionate  son." 

Louis'  "Numerical  Method"  was  at  this  period  deemed  "the 
master  key  which  was  to  unlock  the  secrets  of  disease  and  its 
remedies,"  as  Holmes  wrote.  That  this  method  of  his  teacher 
did  not  appeal  so  strongly  to  Bigelow  as  to  Holmes  is  shown 
in  his  address  as  president  of  the  Boylston  Medical  Society  in 
1846.  That  address  was  called  "Fragments  of  Medical  Sci- 
ence and  Art/'  and  in  it  Bigelow  made  an  appeal  for  the  in- 
ductive method  in  medicine,  rather  than  that  we  should  trust 
to  the  mere  accumulation  of  duplicate  facts.  He  dwelt  upon 
the  importance  of  imagination  in  science.  He  showed  the  true 
office  of  hypothesis  in  the  discovery  of  truth.  This  thesis 
brought  him  into  notice,  for  it  was  clever  and  somewhat  orig- 
inal. New  facts  were  what  Bigelow  believed  should  be 
sought,  not  the  mere  accumulation  of  old  ones.^  He  thought 
the  old  ones  could  be  ascertained  best  by  new  methods  of 
research.  The  new  opportunity  was  even  then  opened  to  him 
through  the  introduction  of  the  microscope,  and  the  new  leader 
for  him  was  James   Paget,   who  was  then  delivering  at   the 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  839 

Royal  College  those  lectures  on  the  pathology  of  surgery 
which  made  him  famous.  To  hear  Paget,  Bigelow  had  been 
used  to  make  weekly  trips  from  Paris  to  London,  then  no 
small  undertaking. 

While  in  Paris,  Bigelow  and  Jeffries  Wyman  lived  in  the 
same  house,  and  thereby  formed  the  friendship  which  asso- 
ciation and  the  kindred  tastes  of  future  years  made  permanent. 
After  a  short  stay  in  Rome,  while  convalescing  from  typhoid 
fever,  and  incidentally  taking  drawing  lessons,  Bigelow  re- 
turned to  Boston  in  1844,  and  established  himself  on  Summer 
Street,  at  the  west  corner  of  Chauncey  Place,  where  Jeffries 
Wyman  also  had  taken  an  office.  The  time  was  propitious. 
The  town  had  a  population  of  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand,  with  a  list  of  regular  medical  practitioners  of  about 
one  hundred  and  sixty;  the  lectures  at  the  Lowell  Institute, 
and  those  at  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences  were 
creating  among  the  laity  a  curiosity  about  science.  The  public 
were  saying  and  the  younger  physicians  were  thinking  that 
all  the  wisdom  and  skill  in  medicine  were  not  confined  to  the 
older  men.  It  was  the  familiar  story.  The  revolution  needed 
but  a  leader,  and  Bigelow  was  a  born  leader.  He  was  well 
trained,  and  he  was  a  fighter.  He  asked  no  favors;  he  made 
no  concealment  of  his  purpose.  He  would  even  force  the 
fight.  Tradition,  seniority,  prestige,  family  influence  in  prac- 
tice, must  all  prove  their  claim  or  take  the  consequences. 
Criticism  and  ridicule  were  of  no  avail.  James  Jackson  said 
of  Bigelow,  "If  he  does  not  become  a  distinguished  man,  it 
will  be  because  Boston  is  not  a  large  enough  field  for  his  abil- 
ity." But  his  success  was  phenomenal  and  almost  immediate. 
He  was  a  marked  man  upon  all  occasions,  whether  public 
or  private ;  and  certainly  he  was  not  above  theatrical  arts,  with 
his  dashing  French  cabriolet,  his  horses  in  gaily  mono- 
grammed  harness,  his  fashionable  personal  appearance,   and. 


840  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

finally,  his  establishment  of  a  "Charitable  Surgical  Institu- 
tion," offering  service  to  the  poor  by  means  of  conspicuous 
signboards,  and  by  circulars  among  the  country  practitioners. 
There  was  a  row,  and  ridicule,  jealousy,  and  criticism.  Henry 
Bryant,  who  had  been  an  externe  in  a  Paris  hospital,  was  Bige- 
low's  partner  in  the  "Institution."  Here  is  their  famous  cir- 
cular and  the  witticism  it  provoked  : 

"Boston,  January   i,    1847." 
"Sir:     The   subscribers   have  established  a   'Charitable   Surgical   Insti- 
tution   for   Outdoor    Patients,'    in   the  building   of   the   '  First   Church '   in 
Chauncy  Place,  where  they  will  attend  daily,  from  11  to  12  o'clock. 

"  They  propose  to  give  gratuitous  advice,  and  to  perform  gratuitously 
any  operation  that  may  prove  necessary,  either  at  the  rooms  or  at  the 
boarding  place  of  the  patient  in  Boston.  A  medical  attendant  will  reside 
upon  the  premises,  who  will  direct  patients  to  good  and  reasonable  board- 
ing-places, and  afford  any  other  desired  information. 

"  A  written  diagnosis,  prognosis,  and  course  of  treatment  in  any  case 
will  be  forwarded  to  any  physician  who  shall   request  it  in  writing. 

"  The  subscribers  are  also  ready  to  operate  or  to  consult  gratuitously 
at  the  residence  of  the  patient  in  the  country,  when  circumstances  render 
it  necessary. 

"  Physicians  may  at  ail  times  obtain  vaccine  matter  gratuitously  at 
the  above  rooms  by  applying  postpaid. 

"  Cases  of  pulmonary  or  cardiac  disease  can  also  be  physically  examined 
at  the  rooms,  as  above,  if  desired. 

"  Henry  Jacob  Bigelow,  M.  D. 
v  "  One  of  the  Surgeons  of  the   Mass.   Gen.   Hospital. 

"  Henry  Bryant,  M.  D. 
"Late  Externe  at  the  Hopital  Beaujon,  Paris." 

The  Witticism. 

"Boston,  March  1,  1847." 

"'  Dear  Sir :  You  arc  respectfully  informed  that  the  subscribers  have 
opened  a  Medical  and  Surgical  establishment  for  the  purpose  of  furnish- 
ing gratuitous  professional  assistance  to  all  applicants,  together  with 
medicines,  surgical  apparatus,  board,  lodging,  good  clothes,  and  whatever 
else  the  circumstances  of  the  patient  may  require. 

"  Patients  residing  at  a  distance  will,  on  application,  have  carriages  sent 
gratuitously  to  take  them  to  our  rooms ;  and  those  requiring  our  services 
at  home  may  depend  on  our  making  the  utmost  speed  to  their  residences. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  841 

"  Nurses,  attendants,  and  all  the  conveniences  of  the  sick  chamber 
gratuitously  supplied. 

"  We  are  also  prepared,  on  receiving  from  a  country  physician  a  care- 
fully written  account  of  any  case,  to  send  gratuitously  our  opinions,  with 
medicines  and  a  coffin ;  and  that  our  facilities  for  giving  an  accurate 
diagnosis  may  be  appreciated,  we  are  happy  to  add  that  we  have  recently 
obtained  a  stethoscope  of  six  thousand  ordinary  stethoscopic  power,  by 
which  means  cerebral  auscultation  can  be  practised  at  a  great  distance, 
and  many  things  heard  which  do  not  in  reality  exist. 

"  Physicians  and  patients  may  be  assured  that  all  applicants  at  our 
room  will  receive  gratuitously  every  advantage  which  the  highest  pro- 
fessional attainment  on  our  part,  and  the  most  unlimited  resources,  can 
provide. 

"  The  advantages  of  early  application  are  obvious ;  it  will  at  once 
insure  to  patients  the  full  ardor  of  our  professional  zeal,  and  demonstrate 
our  superiority  to  all  old  practitioners  and  country  physicians,  and  prove 
that  we  are  illustrious  men.  To  those  to  whom  this  may  be  a  matter  of 
doubt,  we  would  add,  that  one  of  us,  after  about  only  one  year's  arduous 
practice,  is  already  made  one  of  the  Surgeons  of  the  principal  Hospital 
in  New  England,  having  a  father,  two  or  three  uncles,  and  several  influ- 
ential friends  connected  with  that  institution,  who  have  a  just  appreciation 
of  us,  and  through  whose  interest  we  hope  to  fill  the  Professorship  of 
Anatomy  in  the  Medical  School ;  both  of  us  have  also  studied  either  out- 
side or  inside  of  a  hospital  in  Paris. 

"  Festinans  Bigblow,  equal  to  two  Surgeons. 
"  Mr.  Externus,  recently  from  abroad." 

Bigelow  was  one  of  the  leaders,  if  not  the  actual  American 
pioneer,  in  the  study  of  surgical  pathology,  and  he  was  one 
of  the  earliest  microscopists  in  the  country.  In  1844  he  pub- 
lished a  "Manual  of  Orthopedic  Surgery,"  which  won  the 
Boylston  Prize  for  that  year.  This  treatise  was  "a  model  of 
excellence,  and  one  of  the  best  publications  to  illustrate  the 
French  School  of  Orthopedic  Surgery — the  dominant  school 
of  that  time."*  The  chapter  on  Strabismus,  in  this  essay, 
was  the  first  complete  presentation  of  that  subject  published  in 
America. 

Bigelow   was   appointed   an   Instructor   in    Surgery  at   the 

*  E.  H.  Bradford,  Presidential  address,  American  Orthopedic  Associa- 
tion, September  17,  1889. 


842  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Tremont  Street  School  in  1845,  succeeding  Reynolds.  This 
position  he  held  until  the  school  was  merged  in  the  Harvard 
School.  On  the  28th  of  January,  1846,  he  was  appointed  a 
visiting  surgeon  to  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  then 
recently  enlarged.  Bigelow  was  now  twenty-eight  years 
old.  On  October  16th,  1846,  came  the  introduction  of  sur- 
gical anaesthesia.  The  story  of  Bigelow's  connection  with 
this  discovery  would  be  a  volume  in  itself.  From  the  first  he 
saw  its  magnitude.  He  threw  all  his  enthusiasm  into'  the  ad- 
vocacy of  the  use  of  ether.  Holmes  gives  the  following  ac- 
count of  Bigelow  in  connection  with  that  memorable  event : 

"  On  the  evening  of  November  2,  1846,  he  called  at  my  house  in  Charles 
Street  with  a  paper  which  he  proposed  reading  at  the  meeting  of  the 
American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences  to  be  held  the  next  day,  and 
which  he  wished  me  to  hear.  He  began  by  telling  me  of  the  successful 
use  of  the  inhalation  of  a  gas  or  vapor  which  produced  insensibility, 
during  which  a  capital  operation  had  been  performed  at  the  Massachusetts 
General  Hospital.  He  was  in  a  state  of  excitement  as  he  spoke  of  the 
great  discovery,  that  the  gravest  operations  could  be  performed  without 
the  patients  knowing  about  it  until  it  was  all  over.  In  a  fortnight  the 
news  of  this  wonderful  discovery,  he  said,  will  be  all  over  Europe.  He 
then  proceeded  to  read  to  me  the  paper  he  had  prepared, — the  first  formal 
presentation  of  the  subject  to  the  scientific  world.  He  had  the  sagacity 
to  see  the  far-reaching  prospects  of  the  new  discovery,  the  courage  as  well 
as  the  shrewdness  to  support  the  claims  of  the  adventurous  dentist's  start- 
ling, at  first  almost  increditable,  announcement.  Every  possible  effort  was 
made  to  dislodge  the  infant  anaesthesia  from  the  cradle  in  the  Massachu- 
setts General  Hospital,  but  there  remains  the  fact  that  all  over  the  wide 
world  patients  were  shrieking  under  the  surgeon's  knife  and  saw, — oper- 
ator and  victim  alike  ignorant  of  the  relief  in  store  for  them  at  the  very 
time  when  Dr.  Bigelow  was  unfolding  in  my  library  the  first  paper  ever 
written  on  the  subject.  From  the  first  Dr.  Bigelow  was  the  steady,  un- 
flinching advocate  of  ether  as  the  safest  of  the  anaesthetics." 

Bigelow's  writings  in  behalf  of  anaesthesia  and  in  advocacy 
of  Morton's  claim  to  the  right  of  being  held  its  discoverer, 
cover  a  period  of  thirty  years,  1846- 1876,  and  are  historical. 
They  deal  with  every  condition  connected  with  the  introduc- 
tion of  surgical  anaesthesia. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  843 

The  entrance  of  Bigelow  into  the  "Faculty"  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts General  Hospital  was  looked  upon  by  that  body  as 
little  less  than  an  unwelcome  intrusion.  His  youth,  his  undis- 
guised determination  to  change  old  customs,  his  independence 
and  aggressiveness,  were  all  out  of  harmony  with  long  estab- 
lished formalities.  We  may  accept  the  statement  of  Henry  G. 
Clark  before  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  on  June  3, 
1868:  'The  world  does  not  know,  nor  will  it  until  the  true 
history  of  the  use  of  ether  in  this  case  (Alice  Mahon's,  Novem- 
ber 7,  1846)  comes  to  be  written,  how  near  to  a  lost  oppor- 
tunity this  was ;  nor  how  much  it  was  indebted  for  its  triumph- 
ant success  to  the  sagacity,  the  adroitness,  and  the  energetic 
remonstrances  against  the  obstructive  etiquette  and  red  tape 
which  imperilled  everything,  of  the  then  junior,  and  now 
senior,  surgeon  of  the  hospital,  Dr.  Henry  J.  Bigelow." 

Here  is  an  interesting  bit  from  a  message  sent  to  W.  Stur- 
gis  Bigelow  by  William  J.  Morton,  the  discoverer's  son: 
"Verbally,  my  mother  thinks  your  father  advised  my  father 
to  induce  Warren  to  permit  public  experiment,  hence  Abbott." 

Bigelow's  test  of  the  ether  claims  has  come  to  be  accepted : 
It  is  safety,  certainty,  and  completeness.  He  sent  out  the  first 
account  which  the  old  world  had  of  the  new  discovery,  and 
he  experimented  with  other  anaesthetic  agents  in  his  endeavor 
t'o  find  a  local  anaesthetic.  From  these  experiments  resulted 
the  knowledge  that  insensibility  from  the  inhalations  of  nitrous 
oxide  gas  is  due  to  asphyxia,  and  that  we  must  use  large  quan- 
tities of  the  gas.  He  also  discovered  the  anaesthetic  proper- 
ties of  keroselene  and  rhigolene.  Bigelow  personally  admin- 
istered the  ether  at  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital  during 
the  year  succeeding  its  first  use.  So  identified  became  his 
name  with  the  subject  that  he  was  the  only  one  suggested  as 
the  appropriate  person  to  give  the  dedicatory  address  upon 
the  completion  of  the  monument  in  the  Boston  Public  Gar- 
den, June,  1868,  erected  to  commemorate  "the  discovery  that 


844  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

the  inhaling  of  ether  causes  insensibility  to  pain."  Holmes 
said  before  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences  (Vol. 
xxvi)  :  "Had  Dr.  Bigelow  left  no  other  record,  the  associa- 
tion of  his  name  with  the  great  inventive  discovery  of  arti- 
ficial anaesthesia  would  preserve  his  memory  to  the  latest 
period  of  civilization." 

Let  us  follow  Bigelow  through  his  hospital  career  before 
describing  the  other  achievements  of  his  busy  life.  He  was 
a  brilliant  operator,  fearless,  full  of  expedient,  ingenious, 
dexterous  and  graceful,  cool,  alert  and  practiced.  "To  see 
him  operate  was  to  recognize  a  master,"  says  D.  W.  Cheever. 
His  familiarity  with  tools  gave  him  a  dramatic  style  of  oper- 
ating which  dazzled  novices.  He  taught  them  to  make  large, 
free  incisions, — one  of  his  favorite  maxims  was,  "When  you 
have  a  cut  to  make,  make  it."  Although  one  of  the  most 
adept  in  the  handling  of  instruments,  he  gives  this  advice  also 
to  students  in  "Fragments  of  Medical  Science  and  Art,"  "Do 
not  identify  surgery  with  the  knife, — with  blood  and  clashing 
elegance.  Distrust  surgical  intrepidity  and  boldness.  If  any 
such  epethets  have  any  meaning,  they  are  in  bad  taste,  and 
tend  to  give  wrong  impressions  of  scientific  excellence.  *  * 
*  Surgery  is  not  operative  surgery.  Its  province  is  to  save, 
not  to  destroy;  and  an  operation  is  an  avowal  of  its  own  inad- 
equacy." 

In  the  hospital  he  disliked  the  drudgery  and  routine  of  post- 
operative work.  He  placed  the  greatest  confidence  in  his 
house-pupils,  and  entrusted  the  after  care  of  his  patients  to 
them  with  confidence.  Yet  the  slightest  carelessness,  or  the 
faintest  sign  of  relaxing  diligence,  or  the  attempt  to  assume 
responsibility,  would  bring  upon  the  head  of  the  unwise  pupil 
such  a  lesson  that  its  repetition  was  never  required.  After 
the  favorite  student  passed  into  the  ranks  of  practitioners, 
Bigelow  would  follow  him  with  unfailing  interest,  offering 
unobtrusive  advice,  and  sending  him  cases.     Many  men  were 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  845 

so  assisted  by  the  teacher  who  they  thought  could  scarcely 
have  remembered  them  as  house-pupils.  "No  allusion  would 
ever  be  made  as  to  the  source  of  this  success,  no  gratitude 
claimed,  and  no  thanks  allowed ;"  such  is  the  testimony  of  one 
who  publicly  acknowledged  his  indebtedness  to  this  generous 
surgeon.  In  his  services  at  the  hospital  Bigelow  was  con- 
stantly displaying  his  inventive  genius.  H.  H.  A.  Beach 
says ;  "There  is  hardly  an  instrument  in  the  operating  cases 
of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital  which  does  not  show 
some  advantage  gained  from  his  working  with  it."  Among 
the  more  noticeable  instruments  modified  or  originated  by 
Bigelow  are  tourniquets  for  thigh,  arm,  and  wrist;  needle- 
holders  ;  a  sinus  dilator ;  handles  for  drills ;  mouth-gags ;  an 
urethral-divulsor ;  retractors  for  amputations;  polypus  for- 
ceps ;  compressors  for  aneurism ;  torsion  instruments ;  artery 
forceps  with  a  device  for  discharging  ligatures;  autopsy  tables; 
an  operating  chair;  apparatus  for  angular  extension.  Not- 
withstanding the  variety  of  this  list  Bigelow  had  such  an 
aversion  to  the  placing  of  a  surgeon's  name  on  instruments 
that  few  of  his  inventions  were  known  outside  the  circle  of  his 
hospital  colleagues.  In  1869,  while  in  Europe,  he  purchased 
at  a  cost  of  several  thousand  dollars  a  complete  surgical  out- 
fit. These  instruments  he  had  arranged  in  four  large  mahog- 
any cases  which  he  presented  to  the  hospital,  together  with 
a  sum  of  money  for  their  perpetual  replenishment  and  repair. 
He  was  an  inventive  genius,  and  invention  he  l>elieved  con- 
sisted of  three  distinct  stages:  Tst.  Think  out  clearly  the 
object  it  is  wished  to  accomplish.  2d.  Determine  the  com- 
bination most  likely  to  accomplish  this.  3rd.  Reduce  the 
mechanical  combination  to  its  simplest  terms. 

Among  the  l>est  inventions  of  Bigelow  is  an  autopsy-table 
so  arranged  as  to  provide  fur  the  disposal  of  gases  and  liquids 
during  post-mortem  examinations,  and  an  operating  chair  of 


846  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

which  it  has  been  said  it  "could  do  anything  but  speak."  This 
was  the  chair  which  so  interested  Dom  Pedro,  Emperor  of 
Brazil,  on  his  visit  to  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital  in 
1876,  that  he  acquainted  Augusta,  Empress  of  Germany,  with 
its  wonders,  and  she,  in  turn,  asked  for  a  set  of  working 
drawings  from  which  a  similar  chair  might  be  reproduced  for 
the  military  hospitals  of  Germany.  Bigelow  received  in  re- 
turn a  volume  of  the  prize  work  of  Friedrich  Esmarck,  "Hand- 
buch  der  Kriegschirurgischer  Technik,"  bearing  the  holograph 
inscription  of  Her  Majesty. 

In  his  hospital  visits  he  was  all  attention.  No  idle  gossip, 
no  unnecessary  delay.  Pain  and  unsatisfactory  progress  of 
his  patient  received  his  immediate  personal  attention.  He  op- 
posed "meddling,"  and  was  in  the  habit  of  allowing  the  dress- 
ings on  amputations  to  remain  unchanged  "so  long  as  a  solu- 
tion of  chlorinated  soda,  frequently  applied  to  the  outside, 
would  keep  them  odorless."  The  introduction  of  Listerism 
at  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital  took  place  in  the  year 
of  Lister's  first  publication  (1865)  of  his  method.  The  story 
goes  that  two  amputations  were  done  by  Bigelow,  and  treated 
with  Lister  dressings.  His  paper  on  Antiseptics*  was  one  of 
the  earliest  of  such  published  in  this  country,  but  the  great 
advance  came  in  his  old  age.  He  never  practiced  asepsis  ade- 
quately or  appreciated  it  or  gave  it  his  confidence. 

Bigelow  opposed  the  establishment  of  separate  wards  for 
the  care  of  cases  of  skin  diseases,  at  the  Hospital,  believing 
that  such  a  course  would  be  detrimental  to  existing  depart- 
ments and  would  open  up  an  avenue  for  separate  wards  for 
other  specialties.  Another  policy  opposed  by  him  was  the 
acceptance  of  fees  from  their  hospital  patients  by  the  sur- 
geons. The  discussion  of  such  questions,  as  well  as  a  differ- 
ence of  opinion  over  certain  hospital  appointments  in  1885,  is 

*  "  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,"  June  5,  1879. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  847 

said  to  have  led  him  to  resign.     The  following  letter  tells  his 
story : 

"TO  THE  TRUSTEES  OF  THE  MASSACHUSETTS  GENERAL 
HOSPITAL:— 

"  GENTLEMEN :  Having,  at  the  expiration  of  forty  years'  service, 
in  pursuance  of  an  intention  I  have  for  some  time  entertained,  resigned 
my  position  as  Surgeon,  you  have  done  me  the  honor  to  appoint  me  to 
the  office  of  Emeritus  Surgeon  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital, 
without  a  vote  in  the  Medical  Board. 

"  I  am  aware  that  this  is  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  Hospital 
this  honor  has  been  conferred,  and  I  am  very  grateful  to  you  for  the 
compliment.  But  although  during  the  whole  of  my  professional  life  the 
Hospital  has  been  one  of  my  few  permanent  interests,  and  will  continue 
to  be  so,  and  although,  as  long  as  I  felt  convinced  that  I  was  of  service 
to  the  Hospital,  I  was  reluctant  to  sever  my  connection  with  it,  there  are 
reasons  which  compel  me  with  regret  to  decline  the  honor. 

"  Whoever  accepts  the  place  of  Emeritus  Surgeon,  with  the  privilege  of 
using  the  beds  of  the  Hospital,  yet  without  a  vote  in  the  Board  of  Physi- 
cians and  Surgeons,  especially  if  this  limitation  is  made  at  the  expressed 
wish  of  members  of  that  Board,  would  naturally  be  expected  to  confine 
his  attention  to  the  sick  under  his  care.  He  would  cease  taking  the 
greater  and  active  interest  in  the  general  welfare  of  the  Hospital  which 
before  had  been  his  duty.  He  might  even  have  to  remain  a  mere  spec- 
tator, while  still  feeling  a  certain  responsibility  for  what  he  did  not  ap- 
prove. On  these  grounds  I  have  decided  to  carry  out  my  design,  and 
give  up  all  connection  with  the  institution. 

"  Will  you  permit  me,  in  leaving,  to  call  your  attention  to  a  few  con- 
siderations connected  with  the  internal  administration  of  the  Hospital, 
all  the  bearings  of  which  may  not  be  evident  to  those  who  are  not  familiar 
with  them  practically.  Were  the  late  Dr.  Whittemore  still  alive,  T  should 
think  this  unnecessary. 

'  The  Hospital  at  present  is  in  a  <tate  of  great  efficiency,  due  to  its 
excellent  management  for  a  series  of  years,  and  to  the  thorough  and  wise 
discipline  maintained  by  its  late  admirable  Superintendent,  supported  in 
no  doubtful  manner  by  the  Trustees.  Its  traditions  and  its  charities  are 
at  this  moment  as  clean  as  are  its  walls  and  floors.  Never  have  its  u 
fulness  and  its  reputation  been  greater  than  now.  For  forty  years  there 
lias  been  no  friction  in  its  working.  Trustees  and  staff  have  always  co- 
operated t<>  the  same  disinterested  ends.  And  this  would  naturally  last 
so  long  as  all  questions  of  personal  and  private  interest  were  banished, 
a-  heretofore,  from  any  connection  with  the  Hospital. 

"The  recent   differences  have  been  due  to  a  gradually  increasing  diver 


848  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

gence  of  views  in  the  Board  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons.  Some  of  its 
members  desire  to  see  introduced  into  the  Hospital  certain  new  features, 
which,  although  they  might  prove  advantageous  to  some  members  of  the 
Board,  others  object  to,  on  the  ground  that  any  such  measures  are  injuri- 
ous to  a  charitable  institution.  It  is  a  familiar  fact,  for  example,  that 
some  members  of  the  staff  have  a  desire  to  use  the  institution  as  a  home 
for  their  private  patients,  and  in  that  way  make  it  contribute  to  their 
professional  emolument.  In  my  opinion,  any  such  change,  however  plausi- 
bly introduced,  will  inaugurate  for  the  Hospital  an  era  of  decline.  An- 
other measure  relates  to  the  continued  attendence  of  the  surgeons  out  of 
their  regular  term  of  service.  If  this  practice  is  once  established,  besides 
leading  to  confusion  in  the  duties  of  the  house  officers  and  attendants, 
and  otherwise  impairing  the  discipline  of  the  Hospital,  it  will  in  time, 
through  the  repeated  admittance  of  private  patients  of  members  of  the 
staff,  inevitably  bring  with  it  the  question  of  the  payment  of  fees  directly 
or  indirectly  for  medical  or  surgical  attendance.  Other  measures  may 
be  mentioned;  one,  making  Sunday  a  regular  operating  day,  to  the  great 
inconvenience  of  the  attendants  of  the  house ;  and  recently  another,  re- 
ducing the  number  of  surgeons  to  four,  instead  of  six,  the  number  here- 
tofore. I  have  thought  it  best  for  the  Hospital  to  oppose  all  these  meas- 
ures. 

"  Knowing  that  of  late  years  continued  vigilence  has  been  needed  in  the 
Board  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  to  prevent  the  initiation  of  any  such 
changes,  I  believe  that  the  same  viligence  will  now  be  needed  on  the  part 
of  the  Trustees.  The  institution  has  incurred  no  obligation  to  those  upon 
whom  it  has  bestowed  the  professional  distinction  and  the  great  profes- 
sional advantages  of  its  medical  offices.  Its  Trustees  should  weigh  care- 
fully any  measure  which  would  tend  to  confuse  the  administration  of  a 
great  public  charity  with  the  promotion  of  private  interests,  or  subordi- 
nate its  general  discipline  to  private  convenience.  I  am  confident  that  a 
clear  expression  of  the  views  of  the  Trustees  upon  these  subjects  would 
be  of  great  advantage,  for  there  should  be  no  misapprehension  about  them. 

"  Again  thanking  you,  gentlemen,  for  the  honor  you  have  done  me,  and 
with  my  best  wishes  for  the  continued  prosperity  of  the  Massachusetts 
General  Hospital,  "  I  am  respectfully  yours, 

"February  18,  1886."  "  HenrY  J"   Bi^low." 

In  order  to  consider  Henry  J.  Bigelow's  life  as  a  teacher, 
author,  and  public  benefactor,  it  is  now  necessary  to  go  back 
to  1845.  I"  ^at  year  he  succeeded  Edward  Reynolds  as  Pro- 
fessor of  Surgery  in  the  Tremont  Street  Medical  School. 
Already  he  had  been  Instructor  in  Surgery  and  Chemistry  at 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  849 

that  School  for  about  one  year.  In  his  early  connection  with 
the  Tremont  School  he  gave  an  illustrated  course  of  lectures 
on  hernia.  For  this  course  he  procured  rooms  near  the  Har- 
vard School  in  North  Grove  Street.  The  lectures  were  illus- 
trated by  drawings,  dissections  and  cases,  and,  as  they  were 
set  for  the  hour  at  which  the  lectures  in  chemistry  were  given 
in  the  adjoining  Harvard  School,  they  proved  too  great  a 
counter-attraction  for  the  students.  This  disconcerting  popu- 
larity caused  displeasure  on  the  part  of  the  Harvard  Faculty, 
and  the  lectures  were  transferred  to  the  Chauncy  Place  In- 
firmary. The  transference  assured  his  election  as  successor 
to  George  Hayward  as  Professor  of  Surgery  at  Harvard,  and 
he  was  chosen  on  April  28,  1849.  This  appointment  proved 
to  be  a  great  thing  for  Harvard.  Bigelow's  surgical  ability 
was  generally  acknowledged,  and  he  had  shown  an  interest  in 
teaching.  He  was  the  peer  of  any  physician  in  Boston  at  that 
time  as  a  microscopist,  and  had  a  good  knowledge  of  surgical 
pathology.  Besides,  he  had  recently  received  an  appointment 
as  Surgeon  to  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital  which  was, 
and  is  yet,  a  great  advantage  to  surgical  teachers. 

He  was  utilitarian  in  his  teachings,  as  he  was  in  everything 
else.  His  style  was  terse,  clear,  epigrammatic,  seldom  ora- 
torical. He  put  the  subject  vividly  before  his  hearers,  and 
avoided  confusing  details.  He  believed  that  no  branch  of 
education  was  more  essential  to  the  medical  student  than  path- 
ological anatomy;  to  him  it  was  the  corner-stone  of  medicine. 
He  was  profuse  in  demonstrations  both  with  living  and  dead 
subjects,  often  making  rapid  dissections  during  the  lecture, 
which  with  his  accomplishments  as  a  draughtsman  impressed 
the  idea  presented  in  a  way  seldom  forgotten.  In  discussing 
any  subject  he  followed  no  set  rules,  but  gave  the  studenl  what 
was  useful  and  material.  Fie  was  as  earnest  in  dealing  with 
simple  ailments  as  he  was  in  giving  the  details  of  major  oper- 
ations.    He  believed  the  greatest  good  was  accomplished   in 


850  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

medical  education  by  a  constant  restatement  of  undisputed 
facts,  and  by  a  constant  reference  of  those  facts  to  some  broad 
principle.  In  this  way,  said  he,  sound  judgment  is  developed, 
and  nothing  is  more  essential  in  surgery  than  this  quality  of 
mind.    Without  it  skill  becomes  a  dangerous  weapon. 

Another  principle  of  Bigelow's  was  the  value  of  sight  alone 
in  the  diagnosis  of  fractures.  He  taught  that  most  fractures 
and  dislocations  have  characteristic  deformities,  and  that  noth- 
ing is  gained  by  their  manipulation.  Pain  is  thus  avoided, 
and  to  Bigelow  few  things  were  more  essential  than  this.  It 
was  to  accomplish  this  that  he  threw  himself  into  the  exploit- 
ing of  surgical  anesthesia.  As  to  fractures,  if  more  informa- 
tion was  wanted  than  could  be  got  by  inspection,  then  he  ad- 
vised etherization.  For  all  surgical  treatment  his  rules  were 
so  simple  that  they  could  not  be  confused  or  forgotten.  Many 
practitioners  can  testify  to  difficulties  in  surgical  practice  from 
which  they  have  escaped  by  recalling  some  homely  phrase  or 
example  used  by  Bigelow  in  his  lectures.  Who  ever  heard 
his  words  on  the  diagnosis  and  treatment  of  injuries  of  the 
elbow,  but  has  carried  it  always  in  mind  thereafter?  Who 
has  not  found  in  his  impromptu  lectures  in  the  ward,  the  acci- 
dent-room and  the  old  amphitheatre,  the  principles  of  future 
action  in  practice  when  called  upon  suddenly  to  treat  the  emer- 
gencies of  daily  experience?  Underneath  the  apparently  ele- 
mentary nature  of  his  instructions,  and  the  decidedly  prac- 
tical nature  of  his  teachings,  there  was  a  scientific  love  of 
deeper  things.  With  an  instinct  which  followed  every  clue, 
his  position  as  teacher,  as  microscopist,  as  surgeon,  gave  him 
abundant  opportunities  to  pursue  his  research.  He  undertook 
no  operation  without  a  previous  regional  exploration  in  the 
dissecting  room,  hoping  some  better  way  might  be  found  to 
increase  safety  and  effectiveness.  Nothing  escaped  his  ob- 
servation, and  lie  was  constantly  striving  to  shed  new  light 
upon  old  problems.     Witness  his  exposition  of  stellate  fracture 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  851 

in  the  lower  end  of  the  radius,  the  mechanism  of  impaction 
in  fractures  of  the  neck  of  the  femur,  the  treatment  of  un- 
united fractures,  and  of  stricture  of  the  urethra.  Out  of  this 
practice,  this  scientific  spirit,  this  patient  method,  resulted  his 
two  master-pieces,  litholapaxy,  and  the  explanation  of  hip 
dislocations.  Then  there  was  his  work  of  pathological  re- 
search in  surgical  affections.  With  an  artist  trained  and  em- 
ployed by  himself,  he  labored  for  years.  Colored  drawings 
were  made  of  gross  and  microscopic  appearances,  as  well  as 
those  representing  micro-chemical  examinations  of  the  va- 
rious specimens  collected  and  examined.  The  drawings  were 
converted  into  permanent  forms,  and  preparations  were  made 
to  illustrate  his  life's  work.  Then,  to  his  dismay,  the  com- 
pleted work  of  Lebert,  "Atlas  of  Pathological  Anatomy,"  ap- 
peared. His  object  had  been  accomplished  by  another,  and 
his  own  drawings  reverted  to  the  uses  of  the  class  room.  R. 
H.  Fitz  says  that  "The  beauty  of  some  of  these  pictures  is  so 
conspicuous,  in  virtue  of  color  and  outline,  that  one  forgets 
the  repulsive  nature  of  the  object,  and  simply  admires  the 
skill  of  the  artist."  These  plates,  when  given  to  the  Medical 
School,  bore  the  name  of  the  artist  by  special  stipulation  of 
the  donor. 

In  his  "Notes  from  Clinical  Lectures  on  Surgery"  (1851), 
Bigelow  shows  a  love  for  knowledge  which  is  more  than 
utilitarian  in  its  object.  It  was  his  practice  to  show  a  median 
section  of  the  head  and  neck  every  year  to  the  students  for 
their  instruction,  as  well  as  himself  to  study  cleft  palate,  the 
treatment  of  which  was  especially  interesting  him.  In  these 
dissections  he  noticed  the  excessive  turgescence  of  the  mucous 
membrane  of  the  inferior  turbinate,  and  its  sudden  collapse 
while  under  inspection.  From  this  observation  resulted  one 
of  the  few  additions  to  human  descriptive  anatomy  made  in 
this    country.     He    termed    it    "Turbinated    Corpora    Caver- 


852  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

nosa."*  The  spongy  nature  of  this  tissue  as  first  pointed  out 
by  Bigelow  gives  the  hint  for  the  treatment  now  employed  in 
the  use  of  the  cautery  for  catarrhal  and  allied  affections.  The 
anatomist,  Holmes,  said :  "This  discovery  shows  that  Dr. 
Bigelow  looked  with  his  own  eyes.  Thousands  of  keen-eyed 
anatomists  had  been  over  the  human  tody  to  find  something 
that  no  one  else  had  ever  noticed.  All  that  region  had  been 
examined  by  tens  of  thousands  who  had  never  pointed  out 
that  particular  structure.  It  takes  the  born  discoverer  to  do 
such  work, — the  man  who  cannot  be  satisfied  till  he  gets  to 
the  bottom  of  things." 

This  same  spirit  led  Bigelow  to  observe  that  the  same  hip 
dislocations  could  be  demonstrated  year  after  year  on  the 
same  subject,  notwithstanding  the  lacerations  which  the  cap- 
sule of  the  joint  underwent.  This  refusal  to  wear  out  was 
at  first  thought  due  to  the  protecting  of  the  muscles.  In  1861, 
however,  he  noticed  that  the  same  conditions  existed  even 
when  the  muscles  were  ruptured,  the  ligamentum  teres  broken, 
and  the  entire  capsule  torn  away, — with  the  exception  of  the 
anterior  part.  That  anterior  part  always  remained  as  a  strong 
fibrous  band,  fan-shaped  and  slightly  forked.  Here  was  the 
key  to  the  problem  of  hip-dislocations  and  their  treatment. 
He  read  his  observations  before  the  Boston  Society  for  Med- 
ical Improvement  in  1861.  In  1864,  before  the  Massachu- 
setts Medical  Society,  he  read  a  supplementary  paper,  and  in 
1865,  he  presented  his  third  essay  at  the  meeting  of  the  Amer- 
ican Medical  Association.  In  1869  he  published  a  volume, 
"Mechanism  of  Dislocations  and  Fractures  of  the  Hip,  with 
the  Reduction  of  the  Dislocation  by  the  Flexion  Method." 
Thus  for  eight  years  (1861-1869)  he  had  worked  patiently, 
giving  the  whole  medical  world  an  opportunity  to  confirm, 
contradict  or  anticipate  him.     The  medical  world  took  advan- 

* "  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,"  1875. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  853 

tage  of  its  opportunities,  but  Bigelow's  work  withstood  the 
test.  He  had  dispelled  the  darkness  which  had  baffled  the 
researches  of  Sir  Astley  Cooper  and  others  of  former  times. 

Besides  his  concern  with  the  introduction  of  surgical  anaes- 
thesia and  hip-joint  dislocations,  Bigelow  was  to  add  another 
triumph  to  his  career,  and  again  make  humanity  his  debtor. 
In  1878  he  published  his  essay,  "Lithotrity  by  a  Single  Oper- 
ation." In  England  the  school  of  lithotomy  favored  by  Paget 
was  rapidly  gaining  the  ascendency  over  that  of  Thompson. 
Bigelow  went  to  the  root  of  the  treatment.  First  he  ques- 
tioned the  traditional  authority  for  much  of  the  practice  con- 
cerning lithotrity  as  then  employed.  He  found  erroneous  the 
belief  that  the  baneful  sequelae  of  the  operation  were  due  to 
injury  inflicted  by  the  lithotrite,  and  not  to  the  fragments  of 
stone  left  in  the  bladder.  This  made  easy  the  second  point 
in  his  problem :  prolong  the  operation,  and  get  out  all  the 
fragments;  make  it  complete  at  one  sitting.  Civiale  had  re- 
stricted each  sitting  to  five  minutes,  and  Sir  Henry  Thompson 
to  two  minutes.  Further  experiments  convinced  Bigelow  that 
the  urethra  could  be  dilated  sufficiently  to  employ  "an  evacu- 
ator  which  should  evacuate."  For  three  years  he  labored  in 
experimenting,  devising,  improving  and  finally  perfecting,  an 
instrument  which  would  do  two  things — lessen  the  danger  of 
the  operation,  and  shorten  the  duration  of  the  treatment.  The 
results  were  made  public  in  1878.  As  with  his  discovery  of 
the  Y  ligament,  Bigelow's  statements  were  received  with  re- 
lnctance;  for  a  time  the  discussion  was  heated,  but  all  men 
came  to  recognize  the  truth ;  and  slowly,  even  Sir  Henry 
Thompson  admitted  that  "Crushing  stones  at  one  sitting,  and 
removing  all  the  fragments  by  the  aspirator,  has  proved  the 
most  successful  operation  ever  practiced  in  dealing  with  very 
large  and  hard  formations."  The  "Rapid  Lithotrity  with 
Evacuation,"  was  published  in  the  "American  Journal  of  the 
Medical  Sciences"  for  January,  1878.     In   1883  the  National 


854:  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Academy  of  Medicine  of  Paris  awarded  Bigelow  the  Argen- 
teuil  Prize  of  six  thousand  francs,  the  remaining  four  thou- 
sand going  to  M.  Theophile  Anger,  for  another  operation  on 
Peno-scrotal  Hypospadias.  In  1881  Bigelow  was  invited  to 
attend  the  International  Triennial  Congress  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons  in  London.  There  he  received  an  ovation,  and  was 
made  a  member  of  the  Clinical  Society  of  London.  At  home 
he  was  made  Emeritus  Professor  of  Surgery  at  Harvard,  and 
received  from  her  hands  the  LL.  D.  in  1882. 

In  the  Medical  Faculty,  Bigelow  was  an  important  factor. 
He  was  vigorously  against  the  improvements  proposed  in 
1870-71  at  the  Medical  School,  and  was  described  as  a  "  stren- 
uous and  indefatigable  opponent."  From  the  date  of  that 
meeting,  at  which  he  asked  why  so  many  changes  were  planned 
when  everything  was  prosperous  and  quiet,  and  received  Pres- 
ident Eliot's  reply:  "I  can  tell  Dr.  Bigelow  the  reason;  we 
have  a  new  president," — from  that  time  it  was  a  battle  royal 
between  the  forces  led  by  the  two  men.  Bigelow  pleaded  con- 
servatism, caution,  moderation ;  Eliot  advocated  placing  the 
School  upon  a  financial  and  educational  basis  commensurate 
with  its  position  as  a  department  of  Harvard  University;  that 
it  should  no  longer  be  a  school  conducted  for  the  benefit  of 
its  teachers,  acting  with  all  the  prestige,  but  with  none  of  the 
constraining  influence,  of  the  Corporation.  Necessarily,  the 
changes  suggested  were  radical,  and  were  bound  to  meet  oppo- 
sition. In  Bigelow,  the  opponents  to  the  changes  had  an 
active  leader,  a  keen  debater  and  a  plausible  reasoner;  he 
neither  compromised  nor  relented.  Every  move  advocated 
by  the  liberals  must  be  won  or  lost,  nothing  was  conceded; 
step  by  step  he  fought,  and  he  lost,  as  he  fought.  Finally, 
when  a  majority  of  the  Faculty  voted  contrary  to  his  opinions 
he  brought  himself  to  say :  "The  new  measures  have  been 
adopted  by  the  Professors  in  the  spirit  of  personal  sacrifice, 
with  a  full  sense  of  the  possibilities  they  may  entail  of  in- 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  855 

creased  labor  and  diminished  pecuniary  receipts,  and  of  which 
I  feel  it  incumbent  on  me  here  to  say,  that  whatever  credit 
attaches  to  them  is  due  to  my  colleagues  and  to  the  President 
of  the  University." 

In  1 87 1  Bigelow  delivered  the  annual  discourse  before  the 
Massachusetts  Medical  Society.  He  rehearsed  the  opinions 
which  he  had  urged  against  the  changes  at  the  Medical  School. 
This  address,  entitled  "Medical  Education  in  America,"  will 
repay  your  reading  to-day;  he  was  a  far-seeing  man.  Any 
brief  analysis  of  this  address  would  fail  to  do  justice  to  Bige- 
low and  the  questions  at  issue.  He  did  not  oppose  raising 
the  standard  of  medical  education,  but  he  opposed  rather  the 
proposed  sacrifice  of  the  practical,  comprehensive  and  applic- 
able branches  of  science.  He  insisted  upon  "a  plain,  sound, 
solid  education,  without  error,  if  without  ornament  *  *  * 
the  standard  of  medical  education  should  be  raised  gradually, 
and  with  certainty,  by  making  the  best  of  opportunities  avail- 
able to  the  largest  number."  Notwithstanding  his  defeat, 
Bigelow  served  ten  years  longer  with  unabated  devotion  and 
zeal. 

In  the  discussion  of  coeducation  at  the  Medical  School  in 
1882,  Bigelow  was  a  determined  and  vehement  opponent  to 
the  admission  of  women.  The  scheme  was  defeated  only  by  a 
vote  of  the  Overseers,  and  their  action  was  due  almost  wholly 
to  him. 

On  May  29,  1882,  Bigelow  resigned  his  Professorship.  Note 
President  Eliot's  comment  on  him  in  his  annual  report:  "a 
clear  and  forcible  lecturer,  a  keen  debater,  and  a  natural  leader 
of  men,  by  force  of  activity,  ingenuity  and  originality."  The 
Medical  Faculty  showed  their  appreciation  of  him  by  resolv- 
ing, "That  we  recognize  the  great  loss  which  this  Faculty 
has  sustained  in  the  retirement  from  the  chair  of  Surgery  of 
Professor  Henry  J.  Bigelow,  whose  keen  observation,  accu- 
rate research,  and  rare  genius  in  devising  new  and  improved 


856  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

methods  of  operative  procedure  have  done  so  much  to  render 
this  School  conspicuous,  and  to  make  American  surgery  illus- 
trious throughout  the  world."  And  Bigelow  said  of  the 
School  he  was  leaving:  "As  to  the  Harvard  Medical  School 
itself  it  is  a  good  one.  It  does  not  make  more  exceptionally 
prominent  practitioners  and  scientists  than  is  the  case  in  other 
large  cities,  because  prominence  comes  mainly  from  inherent 
qualities ;  but  the  average  student  is  better  educated  here.  He 
must  study  harder,  and  pass  harder  examinations.  Studies 
are  so  arranged  in  order  and  amount  that  he  can  have  not 
only  all  the  education  he  needs,  but  he  must  acquire  a  good 
deal  of  it." 

"  Boston,  January  22,  1882." 
'  The  Committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  communication  of  the 
President  and  Fellows  informing  the  Overseers  that  they  had  voted  to 
appoint  Henry  Jacob  Bigelow,  M.  D.,  Emeritus  Professor  of  Surgery,  in 
consideration  of  his  many  valuable  services  to  the  Medical  School  during 
the  past  thirty-three  years,  beg  leave  to  report  as   follows : 

"  Dr.  Bigelow's  practical  wisdom  and  energy  greatly  contributed  to, 
and  controlled,  the  progressive  steps  by  which  the  Medical  Department 
of  the  University  has  reached  its  present  high  position.  His  skill  in  point- 
ing out  the  most  important  facts,  and  impressing  broad  generalizations 
from  simple  data,  peculiarly  adapted  his  instruction  to  the  demand  of 
American  Medical  Students,  and  inspired  two  generations  of  them  with 
enthusiasm  for  their  profession.  He  was  one  of  the  first  American  teach- 
ers to  insist  upon  the  importance  of  Surgical  Pathology  as  a  study.  His 
far-seeing  discernment  identified  him  with,  and  quickened,  the  introduction 
of  etherization.  By  his  discoveries  he  has  contributed  to  the  enlargement 
of  medical  knowledge ;  and  by  his  rare  faculty  of  invention  he  has  made 
brilliant  improvements  of  immediate  practical  usefulness.  Pre-eminent  as 
a  surgeon,  possessed  of  varied  scientific  acquirements,  the  President  and 
Fellows  have  justly  recognized  his  services  by  their  vote,  and  your  Com- 
mittee cordially  recommend  concurrence  therewith  on  the  part  of  the 
Overseers.  "Signed, 

"R.  M.  Hodges. 

"  F.  E.  Parker. 

"  R.  M.  Morse,  Jr." 

Letter  accompanying  the  Transmission  of  the  Diploma  of  the  Degree  of 
LL.  D.,  conferred  upon  Bigelow  by  Harvard  University. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  857 

"  Harvard  University,  November  30,  1882." 

"Dear  Sir. — I  have  the  honor  to  send  you  by  this  mail  the  diploma  of 
the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  which  was  conferred  upon  you  at  the  last 
Commencement. 

"  In  taking  this  action  the  University  desired  to  testify  in  its  traditional 
way  that  it  appreciated  your  genius,  recognized  your  professional  achieve- 
ments, and  was  grateful  for  your  services  as  a  teacher. 

"  Believe  me,  dear  sir,  very  truly  yours, 

"  Prof.  Henry  J.  Bigelow,  LL.  D."  "  Charles  W.  Eliot." 

From  the  Annual  Report  of  the  President  of  Harvard  University, 

1881-82. 

'  The  resignation  of  Professor  Henry  J.  Bigelow,  after  a  service  of 
thirty-three  years,  was  an  event  of  great  interest  for  the  Medical  School 
and  the  whole  University. 

"  A  discoverer  and  inventor  of  world-wide  reputation,  a  brilliant  sur- 
gical operator,  a  clear  and  forcible  lecturer,  a  keen  debater,  and  a  natural 
leader  of  men  by  force  of  activity,  ingenuity,  and  originality,  Dr.  Bigelow 
was  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  his  connection  with  the  Medical 
School  a  very  influential  member  of  the  Faculty.  His  energy  and  sagacity 
contributed  to  the  rapid  growth  of  the  School  between  1858  and  1870. 
During  the  discussions  of  1870-71,  in  the  Medical  Faculty  and  the  Gov- 
erning boards, — discussions  which  resulted  in  important  changes  of  the 
general  plan  and  policy  of  the  School, — his  part  was  that  of  a  strenuous, 
uncompromising,  and  indefatigable  opponent  of  the  new  projects;  but 
the  caution  and  moderation  which  his  opposition  induced  the  majority  of 
the  Medical  Faculty  to  practise  doubtless  made  the  measures  they  finally 
recommended  all  the  wiser,  and  therefore  the  surer  to  succeed.  Dr.  Bige- 
low continued  to  labor  in  the  School  with  unabated  interest  and  vigor 
for  ten  years  after  the  adoption  of  the  plans  which  he  had  opposed.  In 
recognition  of  his  eminent  services  to  the  University  and  the  public,  Dr. 
Bigelow  was  chosen,  in  May  last.  Emeritus  Professor  of  Surgery,  and 
the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  was  conferred  upon  him  at  the  last  com- 
mencement." 

To  follow  the  other  and  various  lines  of  activity  which  owe 
their  inception,  growth  and  embellishment  to  Bigelow,  would 
carry  us  beyond  the  confines  of  a  medical  biography.  In  all 
things  he  followed  the  precept,  "The  secret  of  profitable  or> 
servation  is  not  only  to  observe  accurately,  but  to  know  what 
to  observe."  Some  simple  toy,  some  new  mechanical  inven- 
tion, ants,  pigeons,  birds,  monkeys,   snakes,  jugglery,  shoot- 


858  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

ing,  psychology,  evolution,  Buddhism,  Mesmerism,  finance,  all 
received  his  thoughtful  attention.  Art,  music  and  painting, 
appealed  to  his  critical  sense,  and  brought  to  him  great  pleas- 
ure. Obviously,  he  was  made  one  of  the  first  Trustees  of  the 
Boston  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  and  one  notes  with  interest  that 
his  last  public  communication  bore  the  title,  "An  Old  Portrait 
of  a  Surgeon."  There  is  a  portrait  which  long  hung  in  the 
rooms  of  the  Boston  Society  for  Medical  Improvement;  it 
used  to  be  thought  a  portrait  of  Ambroise  Pare.  Bigelow  had 
a  two-years'  correspondence  with  experts  in  Europe,  and 
learned  incidentally  many  interesting  things  about  Pare  and 
other  ancients.  Finally  he  established  the  portrait  in  question 
as  an  original  of  Francois  Herard,  a  French  surgeon  who  died 
in  1682. 

The  last  years  of  Bigelow's  life  were  spent  at  Newton, 
Massachusetts,  where  he  had  a  country  house.  There  he  met 
with  an  accident  which  seriously  damaged  his  health.  He  died 
shortly  afterwards,  on  October  30,  1890.  Here  are  some 
gracious  and  eloquent  tributes  to  the  man : 

Action  of  the  Medical  Faculty  of  Harvard  University. 

"  The  Medical  Faculty  of  Harvard  University  desires  to  enter  in  the 
records  its  appreciation  of  the  eminent  services  rendered  hy  the  late 
Henry  Jacob  Bigelow  to  the  Medical  School,  with  which  he  was  connected 
as  Professor  of  Surgery  and  Professor  of  Surgery  Emeritus  for  more 
I  nan  forty  years. 

"  Remarkably  gifted  by  nature,  his  talents  were  made  unusually  pro- 
ductive and  useful  by  his  intense  devotion  to  the  work  of  the  moment, 
only  ceasing  with  the  successful  accomplishment  of  the  task. 

"  His  lectures  were  models  of  condensed  thought  and  applied  knowledge, 
and  were  delivered  with  an  aptness  of  diction  and  a  richness  of  illustra- 
tion which  made  them  ever  memorable. 

"As  a  member  of  the  Faculty  he  was  distinguished  for  the  ripeness  of 
his  judgment,  the  wisdom  of  his  conclusions,  and  the  clearness  and  force 
of  his  arguments.  Whether  as  advocate  or  opponent  he  was  sure  to  add 
new  light  to  the  subjects  under  discussion,  and  was  always  to  he  recog- 
nized as  a  leader  of  nun. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  859 

"  His  late  and  last  communication  to  this  Faculty  showed  a  benevolent 
and  beneficent  interest  in  the  continued   welfare  of  the   School." 

Action  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital. 

1  The  brilliant  contributions  of  the  late  Dr.  Henry  J.  Bigelow  to  sur- 
gical science  entitle  him  to  rank  with  the  great  surgeons  of  the  world, 
and  it  is  especially  appropriate  that  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital 
should  perpetuate  the  remembrance  of  his  service  of  forty  years  upon  its 
surgical  staff,  a  service  which  contributed  so  much  to  the  relief  of  human 
suffering,  and  gave  the  Hospital  a  wide-spread  renown.  It  was  here,  in 
1846,  that,  with  enthusiasm  and  courage,  he  took  a  leading  part  in  the 
demonstration  of  the  anaesthetic  property  of  sulphuric  ether,  a  discovery 
which  made  possible  his  method  of  reducing  the  dislocation  of  the  hip 
joint,  and  again  his  ingenious  treatment  by  litholapaxy.  It  is  no  exaggera- 
tion to  say  that  these  improvements  in  surgery  have  made  his  name 
illustrious  among  the  benefactors  of  mankind. 

"It  is  therefore  Voted,  (1)  That  the  operating-room  of  the  Hospital 
be  hereafter  designated  as  '  The  Henry  J.  Bigelow  Operating  Theatre,'  and 
the  resident  physician  is  instructed  to  have  this  name  inscribed  upon 
its  walls.  (2)  That  the  Secretary  be  instructed  to  communicate  the 
foregoing  vote  to  Dr.  William  S.  Bigelow,  with  the  request  that  he  will 
allow  the  trustees  to  have  made  a  copy  of  one  of  the  portraits  of  his  father, 
to  be  placed  in  the  Henry  J.  Bigelow  Operating  Theatre,  in  order  that 
the  pupils  of  the  Medical  School  in  coming  years  may  be  stimulated  by 
his  achievements  to  a  more  thorough  devotion  to  the  noble  profession 
which  they  have  chosen  to  make  their  own." 

Resolutions  of  the   Medical   Board  of  the   Massachusetts   General 

Hospital. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Medical  Board  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hos- 
pital, December  5,  1890,  Drs.  Homans,  Beach,  and  Cabot,  a  Committee 
appointed  by  the  Surgical  Staff,  submitted  the  following  remarks  and 
resolutions : — 

"  Dr.  Henry  Jacob  Bigelow  was  for  forty  years  one  of  the  visiting  sur- 
geons of  this  Hospital.  He  was  a  man  of  wonderful  mechanical  skill  and 
touch.  Inheriting  a  remarkable  intellectual  power  and  coolness  from  his 
father,  well  taught  by  opportunities  for  observation  and  cultivation,  of 
which  he  made  the  most,  he  entered  on  the  practice  of  surgery  perfectly 
equipped.  Hampered  in  no  way,  neither  by  want  of  means  nor  by  serious 
ill  health,  and  endowed  with  an  almost  intuitive  perception  of  what  was 
the  proper  course  in  every  case,  he  never  hesitated.  No  other  result  but 
success  in  his  profession  was  possible.  It  was  assured  by  his  natural 
abdities,  his  unfailing   instinct,  and   his  cultivated  judgment. 

"In  the  mechanical  execution  of  a  preconceived  and  thoroughly  thought 


860  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

out  plan  of  operation,  he  was  superior  to  other  operators,  and  was  as 
certain  as  he  was  graceful,  brilliant,  and  daring. 

"  Dr.  Bigelow's  life  was  coincident  with  the  discovery  of  anaesthesia 
by  ether,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  leading  advocates.  He  himself  con- 
tributed one  of  the  greatest  discoveries  of  all,  that  of  a  knowledge  of 
the  mechanism  of  the  hip  joint,  a  knowledge  which  enables  us  to  reduce 
a  dislocation  rapidly,  painlessly,  mercifully,  and  intelligently.  This  dis- 
covery alone  was  enough  to  immortalize  him,  but  in  his  later  years  he 
added  another  practical  benefit  to  surgery  and  humanity,  namely,  his 
method  of  relieving  those  suffering  with  stone  in  the  bladder.  And  it  will 
be  noticed  that  all  his  inventions,  achievements,  and  improvements  were 
practical,  and,   one  might  say,   manual. 

''  How  thorough  he  was  in  perfecting  a  mode  of  procedure  before  he 
introduced  it !  He  never  published  until  he  was  absolutely  certain,  and 
could  demonstrate  his  method  in  an  almost  offhand  way.  And  then  how 
concise  in  his  writings!  Not  an  extra  word;  every  sentence  concentrated 
down  to  its  alkaloid,  as  one  might  say.  And  it  must  always  be  remembered 
that  it  was  in  this  Hospital  that  the  intelligent  reduction  of  the  disloca- 
tion of  the  hip  by  Dr.  Bigelow's  method  was  first  demonstrated,  and 
that  it  was  in  this  Hospital  that  the  crushing  and  removal  of  a  stone 
from  the  bladder  at  one  sitting  was  first  practiced, — an  operation  to  which 
Dr.  Bigelow  gave  the  name  of  '  litholapaxy.' 

"  The  code  of  ethics  submitted  by  him  to  the  Massachusetts  Medical 
Society,  and  which  was  adopted,  is  simply  to  be  a  gentleman,  to  treat 
others  as  we  would  be  treated ;   that  is  the  sum  and  substance  of  it. 

"  His  familiarity  with  the  science  of  mechanics,  with  the  use  of  tools, 
and  with  the  engraver's  art  supplemented  his  practical  skill  as  a  surgeon, 
and  rounded  out  and  perfected  the  clear,  concise  and  brilliant  articles  he 
published.  His  native  city  and  country  are  proud  of  him,  and  suffering 
humanity  will  forever  be  relieved  by  the  inventions  of  our  late  associate 
visiting  surgeon  as  long  as  the  world  shall  exist.     Therefore, — 

':  Resolved,  That  by  the  death  of  Dr.  Bigelow  the  Hospital  has  lost  a 
friend  whose  interest  in  its  success  as  a  great  charity  was  ever  active 
and   devoted  ; 

"  That,  through  his  extraordinary  skill  in  operating  and  teaching,  and 
the  rare  judicial  character  of  his  investigations  in  weighing  the  evidence 
of  disease,  standards  of  work  have  been  established  at  the  Hospital  that 
have  contributed  much  to  the  advancement  of  the  art  of  surgery  and 
the  comfort  of  the  afflicted ; 

"That  his  accomplishments  in  the  art  of  treating  hip  joint  dislocations 
and  stone,  now  adopted  throughout  the  civilized  world,  have  distinguished 
his  name  among  the  leading  surgeons  of  his  time ; 

"  That  the  entire  surgical   staff,   who  have  without  exception  been  his 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  861 

i 

pupils,  tender  this  acknowledgment  in  grateful  remembrance  of  one  whose 
first    instinct   was    to   save." 

"  The  Councillors  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  receive  with 
the  deepest  sorrow  the  official  announcement  of  the  death  of  Dr.  Henry 
Jacob  Bigelow,  and  avail  themselves  of  the  earliest  opportunity  to  place 
upon  their  records  an  expression  of  their  great  respect  for  his  character, 
and  their  high  appreciation  of  the  services  rendered  by  him  to  the  Society 
which  is  here  represented,  and  to  the  medical  profession. 

"  That  Dr.  Bigelow  was  one  of  the  most  accomplished  surgeons  and 
eminent  teachers  of  his  time  is  the  unanimous  verdict  of  his  contempo- 
raries, and  that  his  relative  place  in  history  will  be  the  same  seems  equally 
assured.  The  great  practical  achievements  with  which  his  name  has  be- 
come imperishably  associated  have  in  them  permanent  and  enduring  qual- 
ities, and  will  bear  his  fame  to  future  generations.  So  long  as,  and 
wherever  in  all  the  wide  world,  a  human  sufferer  in  the  hour  of  sorest 
need  experiences  the  merciful  alleviations  of  anaesthesia,  or  the  surgeon 
approaches  the  management  of  vesical  calculus  or  luxation  of  the  hip 
joint  with  confidence  and  courage  born  of  the  new  and  better  methods, 
so  long  and  so  universally  will  the  name  of  this  distinguished  surgeon 
and  great  benefactor  of  the  race  be  remembered  with  gratitude  and  spoken 
with  admiration. 

"  Dr.  Bigelow's  long  and  useful  connection  with  this  body  is  recalled 
with  most  agreeable  associations.  His  participations  in  its  proceedings 
have  always  influenced  results,  and  contributed  to  the  general  welfare. 
No  Fellow  of  the  parent  Society  has  been  more  faithful  as  a  Councillor 
than  he. 

"  Of  gracious,  dignified,  and  noble  presence,  wise,  witty,  sententious, 
and  direct  of  speech,  eloquent,  courageous  in  debate,  yet  courteous  to 
opponents,  the  memory  of  his  service  here  will  be  an  enduring  pleasure." 

Writings. 

"  Manual  of  Orthopaedic  Surgery."  Boylston  Prize  Dissertation.  Bos- 
ton, 1845. 

"  Fragments  of  Medical  Science  and  Art."  An  Address  delivered  before 
the  Boylston  Medical  Society.     Boston,   1846. 

"  Insensibility  during  Surgical  Operations,  produced  by  Inhalation." 
Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Jour.,  1846. 

"  Bowditch's  Young  Stethoscopist."  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Jr., 
1846. 

"  On  a  New  Physical  Sign, — A  Clicking  in  the  Throat."  Boston  Med. 
and  Surg.,   1847. 

"  Anaesthetic  Agents,  their  Mode  of  Exhibition  and  Physiological 
Effects."    Transactions  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  1848. 


862  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

"  Ether  and  Chloroform :  a  Compendium  of  their  History,  Surgical  Use, 
Dangers,  and  Discovery."     Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Jour.,  1848. 

"  On  the  Employment  of  a  New  Agent  in  the  Treatment  of  Stricture 
of  the  Urethra."     Boston   Medical  and   Surgical  Jour.,    1849. 

"  A  Lecture  Introductory  to  the  Course  in  Surgery."    Boston,  1849. 

"  Dr.  Harlow's  Case  of  Recovery  from  the  Passage  of  an  Iron  Bar 
through  the  Head."    The  American  Journal  of  the  Medical  Sciences,  1850. 

"  Notes  from  Clinical  Lectures  on  Surgery."  Boston  Med.  and  Surg. 
Jour.,    1850-51. 

"  Stellate  Crack  of  the  Radius  at  the  Wrist."  Boston  Med.  and  Surg. 
Jr.,  1858. 

"  Science  and  Success."  A  Valedictory  Address  delivered  to  the  Medical 
Graduates  of  Harvard  University.     Boston,   1859. 

"  Leucocythsemia."     Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Jour.,  i860. 

"  A  New  Anaesthetic :  Kerosolene."  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Jr., 
1861. 

"  Surgical  Cases  and  Comments."  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Jour., 
1864. 

"  Rhigolene,  a  Petroleum  Naphtha  for  producing  Anaesthesia  by  Freez- 
ing."    Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  1866. 

"  Periosteal  Reproduction  of  the  Condyles  of  the  Humerus  after  Ex- 
cision of  the  Elbow  Joint.  Periosteum  of  the  Forehead  transplanted 
in  a  Rhinoplastic  Operation."     Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Jour.,   1867. 

"  Ununited  Fracture  successfully  treated ;  with  Remarks  on  the  Opera- 
tion."    Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Jour.,  1867. 

"  Nitrous  Oxide  Gas  for  Surgical  Purposes  in  1848."  Boston  Med.  and 
Surg.,   1868. 

"  Address  at  the  Dedication  of  the  Ether  Monument  in  the  Public 
Garden  of  the  City  of  Boston."     City  of  Boston  Document  No.  101,  1868. 

"  Practical  Views  of  the  Treatment  of  Fractures  and  Dislocations  of 
the  Elbow  Joint,  and  on  the  general  Impropriety  of  Passive  Motion." 
Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  1868. 

"  The  Mechanism  of  Dislocation  and  Fracture  of  the  Hip.  With  the 
Reduction    of    the    Dislocations   by    the    Flexion    Method."      Philadelphia, 

1869. 

"  Cleft    Palate."     Boston   Medical   and    Surgical  Journal,    1869. 

"  Luxations  of  the  Hip  Joint."  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal, 
1870. 

"  Anaesthetic  Inhalation."     Boston   Medical  and   Surgical  Journal.    1870. 

"  Medical  Education  in  America."  Address  before  the  Massachusetts 
Medical   Society.     Boston,  1871. 

"  Death  by  Chloroform,  and  Alleged  Death  by  Ether."  Boston  Med. 
and  Surg.  Jr.,  1872. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  863 

"  Alleged  Death  from  Ether."    Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Jour.,  1873. 

"  The  History  of  Anaesthesia."    New  York  Times,  1873. 

"  The  History  of  Anaesthesia."     New  York  Tribune,  1873. 

"  Turbinated  Corpora  Cavernosa."     Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Jour., 

i875- 

"  The  True  Neck  of  the  Femur :  its  Structure  and  Pathology."  Boston 
Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  1875. 

"  A  History  of  the  Discovery  of  Modern  Anaesthesia.  A  Century  of 
American  Medicine."     Philadelphia,  1876. 

"  New  Methods  in  the  Treatment  of  Extrophy  of  the  Bladder,  and  of 
Erectile  Tumors."     Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  1876. 

"On  Dislocation  of  the  Hip."     The  Lancet,   1878. 

"  Lithotrity  by  a  Single  Operation."  The  American  Journal  of  the 
Medical    Sciences,    1878. 

"  Rapid  Lithotrity  with  Evacuation."     New  York  Medical  Record,  1878. 

"  Litholapaxy."  Papers  in  The  Lancet,  1878,  1879;  Boston  Medical 
and  Surgical  Journal,  1879;  New  York  Medical  Record,  1879. 

"  Litholapaxy ;  or  Lithotrity  with  Immediate  Evacuation."  Transactions 
of  the  Clinical  Society  of  London,  Vol.  xii,  1879. 

"  The  Modern  Art  of  Promoting  the  Repair  of  Tissue."  Boston  Med- 
ical and  Surgical  Jour.,  1879. 

"  Litholapaxy.  An  Improved  Evacuator."  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical 
Journal,  1880. 

"Litholapaxy."     Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  1880. 

"  The  Code  of  Ethics  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society."  Boston, 
1880. 

"  Modern  Lithotrity."  Transactions  of  the  International  Congress  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons.    London,  1881. 

"  Litholapaxy."     Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  1882. 

"  Lithotrity  with  Evacuation."    Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Jour.,  1882. 

"  Radical  Cure,  Without  Operation,  of  a  Large  and  Inflamed  Umbel- 
ical  Hernia."    Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  1882. 

"  A  Case  of  Disease  of  the  Liver."  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Jour- 
nal, 1882. 

"  A  Simplified  Evacuator  for  Litholapaxy."  Boston  Medical  and  Sur- 
gical Journal,  1883. 

"  Fees  in  Hospitals."     Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  1889. 

"  An  Old  Portrait  of  a  Surgeon."  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Jour- 
nal, 1889. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI 

(CONTINUED) 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  867 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

EMINENT  ALUMNI    (CONTINUED). 

CHARLES  EDWARD  BUCKINGHAM. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Boston,  June  7th, 
1820.  He  was  graduated  from  Harvard  A.  B.  1840,  and  from 
the  Medical  School  in  1844. 

In  his  early  professional  career  Buckingham  was  often  in 
sore  straits;  his  means  were  small,  and  he  was  without  family 
influence  and  social  connections.  These  difficulties  did  not 
discourage  him ;  on  the  contrary  he  was  stimulated  by  neces- 
sity to  make  his  own  way.  The  struggle,  however,  left  its 
scars,  and  one  finds  him  afterwards  a  bitter  and  sometimes  a 
censorious  critic  of  men  possessing  those  advantages  which  he 
had  lacked.  No  one,  however,  was  more  just  than  he  in  giving 
praise  to  those  whom  he  thought  had  honestly  won  position. 
Few  men  of  his  time  wielded  a  more  trenchant  pen,  or  were 
more  ready  in  debate  than  he.  He  inherited  from  his  father, 
an  able  journalist,  that  vigorous  style,  opinions  of  his  own, 
and  a  fearlessness  in  expressing  them.  He  was  an  honorable 
man  who  often  exhibited  an  earnestness  which  defeated  crit- 
icism, and  unmasked  double  dealing. 

In  the  establishment  of  the  Boylston  Medical  School  in 
1850,  Buckingham  took  an  active  part.  With  him  in  that 
enterprise  were  Bacon,  Walker,  Clarke,  Thayer,  Dalton.  Will- 
iams and  Kneeland,  all  of  whom  became  eminent,  while  several 
were  teachers  later  in  the  Harvard  School.  Among  them 
Buckingham  stood  high.  In  1865,  October  20,  he  was  chosen 
Adjunct  Professor  of  the  Theory  and  Practice  of  Physic  at 


868  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Harvard  and  later  (1868,  August  29)  he  was  elected  Pro- 
fessor of  Obstetrics  and  Medical  Jurisprudence.  In  that  chair 
he  was  an  instructive  and  impressive  teacher.  He  had  accu- 
mulated material  for  a  treatise  on  Obstetrics  which  he  hoped 
to  publish,  but  death  intervened  on  the  19th  of  February,  1877. 
Besides  his  strictly  professional  duties  in  a  large  practice 
which  perseverance  and  merit  had  won  for  him,  Buckingham 
was  greatly  interested  in  public  affairs.  In  the  organization 
of  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Health,  and  in  protective  meas- 
ures against  the  introduction  and  spread  of  smallpox  he  con- 
tributed many  able,  convincing  articles  to  the  daily  press,  as 
well  as  to  the  medical  journals.  In  the  organization  of  the 
Boston  Medical  Library  Association  in  1875  he  was  active, 
and  was  elected  first  vice-president.  At  the  time  of  his  death 
he  was  Consulting  Physician  to  the  Boston  City  Hospital,  and 
the  Boston  Lying-in  Hospital;  a  Fellow  of  the  London  Ob- 
stetrical Society,  a  member  of  the  American  Gynecological 
Society,  corresponding  member  of  the  Philadelphia  Obstet- 
rical Society,  and  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical 
Society,  before  which  he  delivered  the  annual  discourse  in 
1873.  The  Harvard  Corporation  termed  him  "a  skillful  phy- 
sician and  an  accomplished  and  devoted  teacher." 

EDWARD  HAMMOND  CLARKE. 

Edward  H.  Clarke  was  born  at  Newton,  Massachusetts, 
February  2nd,  1820.  He  entered  Harvard  College  at  the  age 
of  sixteen,  but  was  obliged  to  leave  on  account  of  illness,  and 
consequently  was  not  graduated  until  1841.  He  was  studious, 
and  led  his  class.  Fie  was  graduated  M.  D.  at  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania  in  1846,  where  he  had  gone  on  account  of  a 
weak  constitution.  Holmes  says*  that  Clarke  was  the  only 
"first  scholar"  he  ever  knew  to  study  medicine.     During  both 

♦Letter  to  S.  Weir  Mitchell,  March  27th,  1871. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  869 

college  and  professional  courses  Clarke  was  restricted  by  his 
physician  to  two  or  three  hours  of  study  a  day.  From  this 
restriction  he  acquired  such  unusual  powers  of  concentration 
that  he  was  able  in  later  life,  when  teaching,  to  prepare  a  new 
lecture  of  an  hour  in  less  than  an  hour's  time.  Those  who 
remember  the  brilliancy  of  his  lectures  say  that  such  a  per- 
formance was  very  remarkable. 

After  graduating  in  medicine  Clarke  studied  in  Europe, 
where  he  devoted  special  attention  to  the  diseases  of  the  ear. 
Upon  returning  to  Boston  he  and  Henry  I.  Bowditch.  with 
some  others,  revived  the  Boston  Society  for  Medical  Observa- 
tion which  had  been  moribund  for  eight  years.  In  1850 
Clarke  was  the  leader  in  organizing  the  Boylston  Medical 
School  as  a  rival  to  the  Harvard  School.  His  attempt  to 
obtain  legislative  authority  to  grant  degrees  was  unsuccessful, 
but  it  had  a  good  effect  upon  Harvard.  It  stimulated  her 
teachers,  and  they  found  in  Clarke  a  formidable  rival.  In 
fact,  it  was  thought  wise  to  take  him  into  the  Harvard  School, 
a  great  gain  for  Harvard,  and  a  death  blow  to  the  Boylston 
School.  His  appointment  was  made  at  the  December  30th, 
1854,  meeting  of  the  Corporation,  when  Jacob  Bigelow  re- 
signed his  dual  office  of  Professor  of  Materia  Medica  and 
Lecturer  on  Clinical  Medicine.*  Clarke  held  the  professor- 
ship of  Materia  Medica  until  April  8th,  1872.  Upon  his  res- 
ignation he  gave  to  the  School  all  the  plates  and  specimens 
which  he  had  used  as  illustrations  in  his  lectures,  a  valuable 
gift. 

As  a  teacher  he  aimed  at  thoroughness.  Nothing  was  ac- 
cepted upon  tradition  alone.  He  taught  his  pupils  to  ques- 
tion everything,  to  seek  the  cause,  no  matter  how  far  hidden 
or  remote.     Possessed  of  a  fine  gift  of  speech,  he  made  his 

*  George    Cheyne    Shattuck    was   elected    Professor   for    the    vacancy    in 
Clinical  Medicine. 


870  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

lessons  direct  and  effective.  With  a  quiet,  unassuming  man- 
ner, he  carried  his  students  straight  and  rapidly  through  a 
mass  of  work  which  surprised  even  those  who  knew  his  dili- 
gence. In  this  his  love  of  study,  his  quick  judgment,  his 
decision  and  his  honesty  were  transmitted  to  his  hearers. 

E.  H.  Clarke  never  held  a  position  in  any  of  the  hospitals, 
although  earnestly  pressed  to  accept  one  at  the  Boston  City 
Hospital  when  it  was  established.  His  value  to  the  School 
was  as  a  teacher.  So  great  was  his  success  that  his  lecture 
room  was  always  filled,  though  the  hour  assigned  him  was 
eight  in  the  morning.  Clarke's  lectures  today  might  be  classed 
under  "Therapeutics,"  for  he  dealt  with  such  questions  as  the 
use  of  light,  heat,  air,  the  effects  of  imagination,  etc.,  etc.,  in 
the  treatment  of  disease. 

His  writings,  though  few,  show  his  learning  and  wisdom. 
"Sex  in  Education/'  published  in  1873,  and  "The  Building  of 
a  Brain,"  published  later,  are  full  of  advanced  thought.  His 
work  on  "Bromides,"  in  which  Robert  Amory  was  associated 
with  him  remains  a  standard.  His  last  paper  was  that  on 
"Practical  Medicine,"  1876.  Through  his  lectures  he  was 
able  to  illustrate  the  wide  experience  gained  in  one  of  the 
most  extensive  practices  of  his  day.  In  such  practice  he  was 
the  quiet,  attentive,  judicious  adviser,  inspiring  his  patients 
with  such  hope  as  had  carried  himself  successfully  to  health 
when  his  physical  state  seemed  to  indicate  an  early  death.  Nor 
were  his  works  limited  to  his  teaching  and  healing.  He  was 
an  indefatigable  worker  as  Park  Commissioner  for  the  City 
of  Boston,  and  gave  valuable  time  to  other  public  questions. 
He  was  also  a  member  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and 
Sciences.  Tn  1872  Clarke  was  chosen  an  Overseer  of  Har- 
vard College,  and  he  held  the  position  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
November  30th,  1877.  "The  good  physician,  strong  thinker, 
public  hearted  citizen  is  gone.  His  example  remains;  . 
as  an  instructor  he  had  the  admiration  of  his  pupils" ;  and 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  871 

Holmes  said  of  him  that  he  would  have  become  eminent  in 
any  profession. 

HENRY  WILLARD  WILLIAMS. 

Henry  W.  Williams  was  born  in  Boston,  Massachusetts, 
December  nth,  1821.  As  a  youth  he  went  into  a  business 
house,  and  later  held  the  position  of  secretary  and  publishing 
agent  for  the  Massachusetts  Anti-Slavery  Society,  in  which 
Phillips,  Garrison  and  Edmund  Ouincy  were  active.  While 
he  was  in  this  latter  position  he  began  the  study  of  medicine 
(1844)  at  the  Harvard  Medical  School.  After  two  courses 
there  he  spent  three  years  in  Europe,  where  early  he  took  up 
the  study  of  diseases  of  the  eye.  Ophthalmic  surgery  had 
reached  a  high  plane,  while  ophthalmology,  as  we  understand 
it,  was  a  comparatively  undeveloped  science.  To  ophthal- 
mology, then,  Williams  directed  his  energies,  and  was  fortu- 
nate in  having  such  famous  teachers  as  Sichel,  Desmarres, 
Jaeger,  Rosa,  Dalrymple,  Lawrence,  Dixon,  Critchitt,  and 
Bowman. 

Williams  was  graduated  in  medicine  at  Harvard  in  1849, 
and  soon  afterwards  was  appointed  Assistant  Physician  to  the 
Cholera  Hospital  at  Fort  Hill,  Boston.  From  1849-51  he 
was  District  Visiting  Physician  to  the  Boston  Dispensary. 
In  1850  he  was  made  Instructor  in  the  Theory  and  Practice 
of  Medicine  at  the  Tremont  Medical  School.  In  1850  also  he 
was  fortunate  in  having  sufficient  clinical  material  from  the 
city  institutions  then  in  charge  of  C.  E.  Buckingham  to  give 
a  course  of  instruction  on  diseases  of  the  eye  to  a  class  of 
Harvard  Medical  students.  This  course  he  was  able  to  con- 
tinue for  many  years  through  the  courtesy  of  Buckingham. 
He  was  soon  elected  Surgeon,  and  then  Ophthalmic  Surgeon 
to  the  Dispensary.  The  reputation  thus  gained  led  Williams 
to  devote  his  whole  time  to  ophthalmology,  a  specialty  he  ever 


872  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

after  followed.  Those  years  in  the  5o's  were  notable  in  the 
history  of  ophthalmology.  Helmholtz's  newly  perfected 
ophthalmoscope  was  giving  surgeons  their  first  view  of  the 
marvelous  structure  and  workings  of  the  fundus  of  the  eye. 
A  new  pathology  and  physiology  of  the  eye  were  created.  Old 
and  experienced  teachers  were  going  back  to  a  second  term  of 
pupilage,  which  meant  the  undoing  of  many  chapters  in  their 
former  notions  of  pathology,  diagnosis  and  treatment.  Few 
inventions  so  revolutionized  accepted  truths  as  did  the  intro- 
duction of  the  ophthalmoscope.  No  means  was  ever  so  ef- 
fective in  popularizing  a  language,  for  Hemholtz's  invention 
meant  a  study  of  German  for  hosts  of  students. 

In  the  readjustment  of  discoveries  in  the  new  laws  of  optics, 
new  technique  in  operations,  and  new  applications  of  old  rules 
Williams  took  a  leading  part.  Naturally  conservative,  he 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  situation  a  broad-mindedness  and 
independence  of  judgment  which  soon  won  him  a  prominent 
place.  He  was  a  close  observer,  and  a  keen  discriminator  of 
teachers  and  methods.  He  never  allowed  himself  to  be  car- 
ried away  by  the  temporary  popularity  of  this  school  of  prac- 
tice, nor  by  that  method  of  operating,  but  he  listened  to  all 
and  chose  the  best  from  each.  In  such  decisions  he  enjoyed 
a  knowledge  of  the  history  of  former  methods,  which  he  was 
particular  to  emphasize  should  be  understood  before  taking  up 
the  new.  In  this  way  he  developed  an  acquaintance  with  the 
subject,  which  at  conventions,  made  his  opinion  and  utter- 
ances almost  law. 

In  operations  on  the  eye  Williams  was  remarkably  skillful. 
Under  the  teachers  of  the  Daviel  method  he  came  to  recognize 
the  superiority  of  extracting  cataract  over  the  brilliant  but 
uncertain  operation  of  inclination,  and  in  his  long  career  he 
seldom  departed  from  the  former  method.  In  this  work  Will- 
iams was  exceptionally  competent,  and  was  one  of  the  first 
(  [853),  if  not  the  first,  to  advocate  and  employ  etherization 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  873 

as  a  general  practice  in  cataract  extraction.  As  to  the  ques- 
tion of  method  in  these  operations,  Williams  adhered  to  the 
classical  flap-incision  as  against  iridectomy.  He  devised  and 
adopted  (1865)  the  bold  and  original  procedure  of  inserting 
a  delicate  suture  at  the  vertex  of  the  flap,  thereby  hastening 
the  closure  of  the  wound,  and  lessening  the  risk  of  secondary 
prolapse  of  the  iris.  He  lived  to  see  ophthalmic  surgery  re- 
turn to  his  line  of  procedure  in  all  these  matters  and  the  ex- 
perience of  latter  years  confirms  the  wisdom  of  his  course. 

In  the  treatment  of  iritis  it  had  been  customary  to  employ 
mercury  in  large  doses  up  to  pronounced  ptyalism.  In 
August,  1856.  Williams  read  a  paper  before  the  Boston  So- 
ciety for  Medical  Observation,  entitled  "  Treatment  of  Iritis 
without  Mercury."  This  essay  became  memorable,  and  in- 
augurated a  radical  reform  in  ophthalmic  therapeutics.  For 
the  mercury,  Williams  substituted  a  strong  solution  of  atro- 
pine applied  locally.  He  gave  only  such  internal  treatment  as 
iron,  quinine,  etc.,  general  tonics.  The  choice  of  a  limited 
number  of  remedies  in  this  new  treatment  marks  his  wisdom 
as  well  as  his  conservatism.  He  says :  "  It  may  seem  that  in 
the  treatment  of  these  cases  routine  has  been  too  closely  fol- 
lowed, but,  in  the  trial  of  one  plan  of  treatment  instead  of  an- 
other of  directly  opposite  character,  it  was  desirable,  in  order 
to  avoid  uncertainty  as  to  the  results  obtained,  to  deviate  as 
little  as  possible  from  a  fixed  course.  It  is  by  no  means  as- 
sumed that  mercurials  or  other  antiphlogistic  measures  should 
be  absolutely  discarded  from  the  treatment  of  this  disease; 
but  the  results  of  these  cases,  many  of  which  were  of  unusual 
severity,  prove  that  it  is  by  no  means  necessary  to  resort. 
immediately,  to  this  use  in  all  instances."  This  is  a  cautious 
statement,  yet  in  the  treatment  thus  inaugurated  by  Williams 
the  routine  practice  of  mercurialization  in  the  treatment  of 
iritis  was  broken  up,  the  efficacy  of  atropine  as  a  mydriatic  in 
iritis  was  established,  as  was  its  power  to  relieve  pain   and 


874  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

promote  healing.  Williams  proved  further,  that  even  in 
gumma  of  the  iris  the  local  use  of  atropine  and  the  internal 
use  of  potassium  iodide  effect  a  cure. 

As  a  writer  Williams  was  prominent.  His  first  work  of 
an  extensive  nature  was  his  translation  of  Sichel's  work 
(1850),  ''Spectacles;  Their  Uses  and  Abuses  in  Long  and 
Short-sightedness."  In  1862  he  published  "A  Practical  Guide 
to  the  Study  of  the  Diseases  of  the  Eye."  In  1865  he  won 
the  Boylston  Prize  with  his  essay,  "Recent  Advances  in  Oph- 
thalmic Science."  In  1881  his  largest  work,  476  pages  octavo, 
entitled  "The  Diagnosis  and  Treatment  of  the  Diseases  of  the 
Eye,"  was  published.  In  these  works  he  shows  conclusively 
that  he  is  a  general  practitioner  first,  then  a  specialist.  His 
language  is  so  simple,  his  diagrams  so  plain,  and  his  descrip- 
tions so  full  and  so  free  from  technicalities,  that  the  book 
reads  much  like  a  personal  letter  from  the  physician  to  his 
colleague.  The  repeated  demands  for  new  editions  of  this 
work  show  how  timely  was  his  presentation  of  the  subject. 

Although  he  was  identified  with  the  special  branch  of  oph- 
thalmology, Williams  never  lost  his  interest  in  general  med- 
icine. He  attended  regularly  the  meetings  of  the  various 
medical  societies  of  which  he  was  a  member  and  took  an  active 
part  in  the  discussions.  In  the  Suffolk  District  Medical  So- 
ciety he  was  secretary  (1851),  censor  (1854),  vice-president 
(1873)  and  president  (1875).  In  the  Massachusetts  Medical 
Society  he  was  councillor  (1865),  anniversary  chairman 
(1867),  and  president  (1880-81).  He  belonged  also  to  the 
Boston  Society  for  Medical  Improvement,  the  Boston  Society 
for  Medical  Observation,  and  the  Boston  Medical  Associa- 
tion. He  was  the  founder  and  for  many  years  the  president 
of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Benevolent  Society ;  secretary 
and  treasurer  of  the  Boston  Medical  Book  Club:  trustee  of 
the  Boylston  Medical  Prize  Fund;  president  of  the  Associa- 
tion of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  the  Boston  City  Hospital. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  875 

He  was  a  member  of  the  American  Medical  Association;  the 
International  Medical  Congress  of  Philadelphia  in  1876;  Hon- 
orary Fellow  of  the  Rhode  Island  Medical  Society,  and  of  the 
New  Hampshire  Medical  Society ;  Honorary  Fellow  of  the 
Edinburgh  Medico-Chirurgical  Society,  and  of  the  Heidil- 
berger  Ophthalmologische  Fesellschaft.  Other  bodies  with 
which  he  was  affiliated  were  the  American  Academy  of  Arts 
and  Sciences,  the  Boston  Society  of  Natural  History,  the  So- 
ciety of  Arts  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology, 
the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science, 
the  Essex  Institute  of  Salem,  Massachusetts,  the  Thursday 
Evening  Club  and  the  Examiner  Club.  He  was  trustee  and 
treasurer  of  the  Boston  Library  Society,  a  member  of  the 
Boston  Young  Men's  Benevolent  Society;  the  Bostonian  So- 
ciety, as  well  as  of  Church  and  patriotic  societies, — a  long  list. 
In  1864  he  was  one  of  the  nineteen  physicians  who  organized 
the  American  Ophthalmological  Society,  and  for  twenty  years 
he  was  either  its  vice-president  or  president.  At  the  Inter- 
national Congress  of  1872  in  London,  Williams  was  one  of 
the  vice-presidents,  and  it  was  mainly  through  his  efforts  that 
that  body  met  in  New  York  in  1876. 

Williams'  successful  career  as  a  teacher  began  in  T850  as 
Clinical  Instructor  at  the  City  Institutions  in  South  Boston, 
and  from  this  followed  his  appointment  as  Surgeon,  and  later 
as  Surgeon  and  Ophthalmic  Surgeon  to  the  Boston  Dispen- 
sary. Upon  the  opening  of  the  City  Hospital,  of  which  he 
was  one  of  the  founders,  in  1864,  he  was  appointed  Ophthal- 
mic Surgeon.  He  was  for  many  years  also  Ophthalmic  Sur- 
geon to  the  Perkins  Institution.  In  1866  he  was  elected  by 
the  Harvard  Corporation,  University  Lecturer  on  Ophthal- 
mology, and  on  October  19th,  1871,  he  was  made  Professor  of 
Ophthalmology  in  the  Medical  School.  He  resigned  in  1S91. 
The  Corporation  voted  that  in  accepting  the  resignation  they 
wish  to  "acknowledge  their  great  obligation  to  Dr.  Williams  for 


876  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

his  twenty  years  of  honorable  service  as  Professor  of  Ophthal- 
mology, and  for  a  previous  service  of  five  years  as  University 
Lecturer  on  the  same  subject ;  and  that  they  see  with  satis- 
faction that  during  this  period  the  subject  to  which  Dr.  Will- 
iams had  devoted  himself  has  won  an  important  place  among 
the  studies  of  the  Medical  School." 

In  nearly  all  those  appointments  Williams  was  the  first  per- 
son to  fill  the  positions,  most  of  which  were  created  for  him. 
As  a  teacher  he  was  lucid,  practical,  and  had  the  happy  faculty 
of  accommodating  his  language  to  the  requirements  of  his 
particular  class  of  hearers,  whether  students,  practitioners  or 
laymen.  His  influence  was  great,  and  the  lessons  he  taught 
were  often  the  sum  total  of  what  many  practitioners  ever  were 
to  know  of  the  diseases  and  treatment  of  the  eye.  In  the 
conventions  of  his  associates  he  was  an  important  person,  with 
a  forcible,  persuasive  way  of  speaking  and  presiding  which 
often  made  final  his  opinions  and  decisions.  He  had  always 
the  greatest  consideration  for  the  rights  and  privileges  of  his 
associates,  and  so  won  their  regard  and  respect.  With  a  mind 
virile,  set,  yet  consistent,  he  naturally  met  opposition,  but  his 
untiring  patience,  his  conservativism,  his  conscientiousness  in 
the  discharge  of  his  duties  always  secured  the  admiration  of 
his  opponents.  In  the  Medical  Faculty  he  was  opposed  to  the 
entrance  of  women  into  the  practice  of  medicine,  while  in  the 
suppression  of  quackery  he  was  relentless.  It  was  said  of 
him  that  he  never  grew  old,  and  was  constantly  adding  to  his 
store  of  knowledge. 

His  ability  as  an  operator  deserves  special  mention.  He 
had  few  equals;  "To  see  him  extract  a  double  cataract,  first 
with  the  right  hand  and  then  with  the  left,  with  equal  pre- 
cision and  grace,  was  a  surgical  coup  never  to  be  forgotten," 
is  the  opinion  of  D.  W.  Cheever.  Williams  sent  the  following 
interesting  letter  to  the  President  and  Fellows  of  Harvard 
College  on  April  22,  1891  : 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  877 

"  When  compelled  by  illness,  in  1891,  I  resigned  the  position  I  had  for 
twenty  years  held  as  your  first  Professor  of  Ophthalmology,  your  kind 
assurance  of  '  obligations  for  twenty  years  of  honorable  service,'  and  of 
'seeing  with  satisfaction  rhat  during  this  period  the  subject  had  won  an 
important  place  among  the  studies  of  the  Medical  School '  were  most 
grateful  to  me. 

"  My  experience  in  these  years  of  teaching  at  a  period  when  our  knowl- 
edge of  the  functions  of  the  Eye  and  our  resources  for  promoting  its 
well  being  and  usefulness  far  surpassed  anything  before  attained ;  im- 
pressed me  with  the  importance  of  the  Department  charged  with  the 
welfare  of  the  Organ  of  Vision  so  superlatively  essential  to  scholars ; 
and  the  instrument  by  the  aid  of  which  the  major  part  of  all  which 
increases  human  welfare  and  happiness  is  accomplished. 

"  Therefore,  in  the  hope  of  continuing  to  be  useful  as  a  promoter  in 
this  promising  field,  I  offer  to  the  University  twenty-five  thousand  dollars, 
as  a  special  fund  for  the  maintenance  of  a  Professorship  of  Ophthal- 
mology—with the  proviso  that  during  the  life  time  of  my  wife  the  income 
of  the  Fund  shall  go  to  her  use,  payable  to  her  order.     *     *     *     *  " 

It  was  voted  to  establish  the  "Henry  Willard  Williams 
Fund." 

The  last  public  appearance  of  Henry  W.  Williams  was  at 
the  meeting  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences 
on  May  8th,  1895,  when  he  read  an  obituary  notice  of  Pro- 
fessor Herman  von  Helmholtz.  Soon  after  this  his  health 
began  to  fail  rapidly  and  he  died  in  Boston  on  June  13,  1895. 

Bibliography. 

1849,  Dec.  24-  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Internal  Health  on  the 
Asiatic  Cholera,  together  with  a  report  of  the  City  Physician  on  the 
Cholera  Hospital.     The  Topographical   Statistics  by  H.   W.  Williams. 

1850.  "  Spectacles :  Their  Uses  and  Abuses  in  Long  and  Shortedness." 
By  J.  Sichel,  M.  D.  Translated  from  the  French,  by  permission  of  the 
author,  by  Henry  W.  Williams.   M.   D.     Boston. 

1850,  June  26,  July  3.  "Operations  for  cataract :  (1)  Microphthalmos 
complicated  with  Congenital  Cataract  in  both  Eyes — Operation;  (2)  Ex- 
traction of  Cataract  by  Section  of  the  superior  half  of  the  Cornea; 
(3)  Operation  for  Cataract  with  Two  Instruments,  through  the  Cornea 
and  Sclerotica  at  the  same  time."      Host.   Med.  &  Surg.  Jour.,   xlii.  21,  22. 

1851,  March  24.  "Case  of  Hypospadias."  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  for  Med- 
ical Improvement,  Vol.  i,  p.  149. 


878  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

1851,  April  28.  "Dislocation  of  the  Crystaline  Lens  without  Rupture 
of   the  Capsule."     Proc.    Boston    Soc.   for  Medical    Improvement,   Vol.   i, 

P-  154- 

1851,  June  18.  ''On  the  Value  of  the  Operation  of  Extraction  of  Cata- 
ract, and  on  the  Use  of  Anaesthetic  Agents  in  Ophthalmic  Surgery." 
Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour.,  xliv,  20. 

1851,  July  14.  "Traumatic  Injuries  of  the  Iris.  Proc.  of  the  Boston 
Medical  Improvement,"  Vol.  i,  p.  164. 

1851,  Sept.  22.  "  Pracentesis  Thoracis  in  a  case  of  Acute  Pleurisy." 
Proc.  Boston  Soc.  for  Medical  Improvement,  Vol.  i,  p.  176. 

1852,  Aug.  9.  "  Carcinomatous  Disease  of  the  Uterus  and  Vagina." 
Proc.  Boston  Soc.  for  Medical  Improvement,  Vol.  i,  p.  258. 

1852,  Sept.  8.  "  Encysted  Tumor  above  Lachrymal  Sac."  Boston  Med. 
&  Surg.  Jour.,  xlvii,  6. 

1852,  Oct.  6.  "  Carcinoma  Oculi — Extirpation  of  the  Eyeball."  Boston 
Med.  &  Surg.  Jour.,  xlvii,  10. 

1852,  Dec.  22.  "  Cataract  in  a  Dog ;  Successful  Operation  under  the 
Influence  of  Ether."     Boston  Med.  &  Surg.  Jour.,  xlvii,  21. 

T853,  Jan.  4.  "  Cataract  from  Traumatic  Injury."  Proc.  Boston  Soc. 
for  Medical  Improvement,  Vol.  i,  p.  305. 

"  Scrofulous  Disease  of  Testicle."     Ibid.,  p.  305. 

l&53,  Feb.  28.  "  Malignant  Disease  of  Eyeball  and  Tissues  of  the 
Orbit. — Extirpation.  Death  from  Haemorrhage  during  the  Operation." 
Proc.  of  Boston  Soc.  for  Medical  Improvement,  Vol.  i,  p.  314. 

1853,  April  30.  An  Address  delivered  before  the  Suffolk  District  Med- 
ical Soc.  at  its  Fourth  Anniversary  Meeting,  Boston,  April  30,  1853. 

1853,  May  22,.  "  Fluid  Congenital  Cataract."  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  for 
Medical  Improvement,  Vol.  i,  p.  339. 

1853.  June  13.  "  Operation  for  Cataract  on  a  Patient  aged  eighty-eight." 
Proc.  Boston  Soc.  for  Medical  Improvement,  Vol.  i,  p.  341. 

"  Anencephalous   Foetus."     Ibid.,  p.  346. 

1853,  Nov.  23.  "  Extraction  of  Cataract,  the  Patient  being  under  the 
Influence  of  Ether.  Subsequent  Presence  and  Absorption  of  Air  in  the 
Anterior  Chamber."     Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour.,  xlix,  17. 

1853,  Dec.  26.  "  Single  Congenital  Cataract."  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  for 
Medical    Improvement,    Vol.    ii,    p.    39. 

1854,  Feb.  27.  "  Pathological  Changes  of  the  Cornea,  following  the 
Affection  of  the  Fifth  Pair  of  Nerves."  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  for  Medical 
Improvement,  Vol.  ii,  p.  51. 

"Removal  of  Central  Opacity  of  Cornea."     Ibid.,  p.  53. 
1854,  Aug.   14.     "  Operations  for  Removal  of  Opacities  of  the  Cornea." 
Proc.  Boston  Soc.  for  Medical  Improvement,  Vol.  ii,  p.  129. 

1854,  Aug.  28.     "Fracture  of  Os  Hyoides  produced  by  a  Fall — Suffoca- 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  879 

tion  from  Effusion  around  Glottis — Tracheotomy — Resuscitation  by  Arti- 
ficial Respiration."     Proc.  Bost.  Soc.  Med.  Improvement,  Vol.  ii,  p.  153. 

1854,  Nov.  13.  "  Dislocation  of  the  Crystalline  Lens."  Proc.  Boston 
Soc.   for  Medical  Improvement,  Vol.  ii,  p.   162. 

1854,  Dec.  11.  "Spontaneous  Dislocation  of  the  Crystalline  Lens  in 
Both  Eyes,  without  Loss  of  Transparency.  Frequent  Prolapse  of  the  Lens 
into  the  Right  Anterior  Chamber."  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  for  Medical  Im- 
provement, Vol.  ii. 

1855,  Feb.  26.  "  Dislocation  of  the  Crystalline  Lens,  Resulting  from  a 
Blow  on  the  Eye  received  some  time  previously."  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  for 
Medical  Improvement,  Vol.  ii,  p.  189. 

1855,  March  12.  "  Cancer  of  the  Stomach."  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  for 
Medical  Improvement,  Vol.  ii,  p.  194. 

1855,  May  3.  "  Two  Cases  of  Infantile  Syphilis."  Read  before  the 
Boston  Soc.  for  Medical  Observation,  April  16,  1855.  Bost.  Med.  and 
Surg.  J.,  Hi,  13. 

1855,  June  11.  "Artificial  Pupil."  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  for  Med.  Im- 
provement, Vol.  ii,  p.  239. 

1856,  April  28.  "  Crystals  of  Cholesterine  in  the  Eye."  Proc.  Boston 
Soc.  for  Medical  Improvement,  Vol.  ii,  p.  341. 

1856,  June  9.  "  Vesication  of  the  Epithelial  Layer  of  the  Cornea — 
Absence  of  Sensibility  to  Irritation."  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Med.  Improve- 
ment, Vol.  iii. 

1856,  Aug.  21,  28,  Sept.  4.  "Iritis: — Non-mercurial  Treatment."  Read 
before  the  Boston  Soc.  for  Medical  Observation,  Aug.  4,  1856.  Boston 
Med.  and  Surg.  Jour.,  lv,  3,  4,*  5. 

1857,  Feb.  26.  "  Pyramidal  Cataract :  Operations  by  Division  and  Ex- 
traction."    Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour.,  hi,  4. 

1857,  Sept.  28.  "  Disease  of  the  Eye,  probably  Cancerous."  Proc.  Bos- 
ton Soc.   for  Medical    Improvement,  Vol.   iii,  p.    138. 

1857,  Dec.  3.  "  Operations  for  Artificial  Pupil."  Boston  Med.  and 
Surg.   Jour.,   lvii,    18. 

1857,  Dec.  14.  "  Remarkable  Changes  of  the  Internal  Structures  of  the 
Eye."     Proc.  Boston  Soc.  for  Medical  Improvement,  Vol.  iii,  p.  181. 

1S58,  Sept.  23.  "  Six  Cases  of  Successful  Operation,  in  one  Family,  on 
Children  born  Blind."     Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour.,  lix,  8. 

1858,  Dec.  2"].  "Dislocation  of  the  Transparent  Crystalline  Lens  into 
the  Anterior  Chamber."  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  for  Med.  Improvement, 
Vol.  iii,  p.  307. 

1859,  March  17.  "On  the  Treatment  of  Certain  Diseases  of  the  Lachry- 
mal Passag  Read  before  the  Boston  Society  for  Medical  Observa- 
tion.    Boston   Med.   and   Surg.  Jour..   In,    12. 

1859,  April  21.  "Ulceration  of  the  Cornea."  Read  before  the  Boston 
Soc.  for  Medical  Observation.     Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour..  1\,   12. 


880  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

J859,  June  27.  "  Ossification  of  the  Crystalline  Lens."  Proc.  Boston 
Soc.  for  Med.  Improvement,  Vol.  iv,  p.  49. 

i860,  Aug.  2.  "Traumatic  Injury  of  Both  Eyes — Operation  for  Resto- 
ration of  Vision."     Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour.,  lxiii,  1. 

1861,  June  10.  "  Ophthalmia  Neonatorum."  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  for 
Medical  Improvement,  Vol.  iv,  p.  218. 

1862.  "  A  Practical  Guide  to  the  Study  of  the  Diseases  of  the  Eye." 
Boston. 

1862,  April  28.  "  A  Case  of  Acute  Glaucoma — Performance  of  Iridec- 
tomy, with  Complete  Restoration  of  Vision."  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  for  Med- 
ical Improvement,  Vol.  v,  Appendix. 

1863,  Jan.  1.  *'  Case  of  Glaucoma  Relieved  by  Iridectomy."  Read 
before  the  Boston  Soc.  for  Med.  Improvement,  Dec.  22.  1862.  Bost.  Med. 
and  Surg.  Jr.,  lxvii,  22. 

1863,  July  30,  Aug.  13,  27,  Sept.  3,  17,  24.  "  European  Ophthalmic  In- 
stitutions— Six  letters  from  Europe."  Bost.  Med.  and  Surg.  Jr.,  lxviii, 
26;  lxix,  2,  4,  5,  7,  8. 

1863,  Dec.  31.  "Various  Applications  of  the  Operation  of  Iridectomy." 
Read  before  the  Boston  Soc.  for  Med.  Observation.  Boston  Med.  and 
Surg.  Jour.,  lxix,  22. 

1864.  "  Cataracts  with  Unusual  Toughness  of  the  Capsule."  Proc. 
Boston  Soc.  for  Medical  Improvement,  Vol.  v,  p.  121. 

1864,  Jan.  28.  '  The  Properties  and  Uses  of  the  Calabar  Bean."  Trans- 
lated from  the  Annales  d'  Oculistique.     Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jr.,  lxix,  26. 

1864,  Dec.  1.  Report  of  Operations  in  the  Dept.  of  Ophthalmic  Surgery 
at  the  City  IIosp.  of  Boston,  under  the  care  of  Dr.  Williams,  for  three 
months,  ending  Aug.  30,  1864.     Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour.,  lxxi,  18. 

1864,  Dec.  15.  "  Case  of  Glaucoma  of  more  than  Three  Months'  Stand- 
ing, in  which  Perception  of  Light  had  been  lost,  Successfully  Treated  by 
Iridectomy."  Read  before  the  Boston  Soc.  for  Med.  Improvement,  Nov. 
28,  1864.     Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour.,  lxxi,  20. 

1865,  Jan.  26.  Report  of  Operations  in  the  Department  of  Ophthalmic 
Surgery  at  the  City  Hospital  of  Boston,  under  the  care  of  Dr.  Williams 
for  four  months  ending  Dec.  31,  1864.  Bost.  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour., 
lxxi,  26. 

1865,  Feb.  23.  "  Early  Diagnosis  of  Puerperal  Inflammation  of  the 
Eyeball."  Read  before  the  Boston  Soc.  for  Med.  Improvement,  Feb.  13, 
1865.     Boston  Med.  and   Surg.  Jour.,  Ixxii,  4. 

1865,  March  13.  "  Hereditary  Syphilis."  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  for  Med. 
Improvement,  Vol.  v,  p.  169. 

1865,  May  4.  Report  of  Operations  in  the  Ophthalmic  Dept.  of  the 
City  Hosp.  of  Boston,  under  the  care  of  Dr.  Williams,  for  the  three 
months  ending  April   1.   [865.     Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour.,  Ixxii,  14. 

1865,   Aug.   24.     "  Nearsightedness   a    Disease,   and   not    merely   an    In- 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  881 

firmity."      Read   before    the    Soc.    for    Med.    Improvement,    Aug.    14,    1865. 
Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour.,  lxxiii,  4. 

1865,  Aug.  31.  "  Removal  of  a  Cataract  of  Eighty-three  Years'  Stand- 
ing, from  a  Man  Ninety-three  Years  Old."  Bost.  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour., 
lxxiii,  5. 

1866.  "  Recent  Advances  in  Ophthalmic  Science."  Boyleston  Prize 
Essay   for   1865.      Boston.     1866. 

1866.  "  Remarkable  Voluntary  Power  over  the  Muscles  of  the  Eyeball 
Acquired  by  Training."  Royal  London  Ophthalmic  Hospital  Reports, 
Vol.  v,  pt.  3,   1866. 

1866,  Feb.  12.  "  Penetration  of  the  Eye  by  a  Foreign  Body  and  its 
Discovery  at  the  Fundus  of  the  Globe  by  means  of  the  Ophthalmoscope." 
Proc.   Boston   Soc.   for  Med.  Improvement,  Vol.  v,  p.  204. 

1866,  Feb.  22.  "  Spontaneous  Dislocation  of  the  Crystalline  in  Both 
Eyes — Subsequent  Severe  Symptoms  in  One  Eye,  requiring  the  removal 
of  the  Degenerated  Lens  by  Out-scooping  combined  with  Iridectomy." 
Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour.,  lxxiv,  4. 

1S66,  June  12.  "  Suture  of  the  Flap  after  Extraction  of  Cataract."  Read 
before  the  American  Ophthalmological  Society.  June  12,  1866.  Trans- 
actions of  the  Ophthalmological  Society,  1866. 

1S06,  July  26.  "  Some  Conservative  Measures  required  in  Certain 
Diseases  of  the  Eye."  Read  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Massachusetts 
Medical  Society.  Boston,  May,  1866.  Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour., 
lxxiv,  26. 

1S66,  Aug.  30.  "An  Improvement  in  the  Form  of  Probes  for  the 
Lachrymal  Passages."  Read  before  the  Boston  Soc.  for  Med.  Improve- 
ment, July  9,   1866.     Boston   Med.  and   Surg.  Jour.,   lxxv.   5. 

1867.  "  A  Practical  Guide  to  the  Study  of  Diseases  of  the  Eye."  2d  Ed-, 
Revised  and  Enlarged.     Boston,  1867. 

1867.  "  Use  of  a  Suture  of  the  Cornea  to  Close  the  Wound  after  Cata- 
ract Extraction."  Royal  London  Ophthalmic  Hospital  Reports,  Vol.  vi, 
pt.   1,  1867. 

[867,  Feb.  28.  "Report  of  the  Operations  performed  in  the  Ophthalmic 
Department  of  the  City  Hospital,  Boston,  during  the  year  ending  Dec.  31, 
1866."     Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour.,  lxxvi,  4. 

1868.  "Optical  Defects  in  School  Children."  Read  before  the  Massa- 
chusetts Teachers'  Association.     .Mass.  Teacher,  1868. 

1868,  July  21.  "  Modification  of  Probes  for  the  Lachrymal  Passages." 
Read  before  the  American  Ophthalmological  Society,  July  21,  [868.  Trans- 
actions of  the   Am.  Ophthalmological   Society,    1868. 

1868,  July  21.  "Suture  of  the  Wound  of  Cornea  after  Flap  Extraction 
— Report  of  Forty-four  Cases."  Read  before  the  American  Ophthal- 
mological Soc,  July  21.  iS(>8.  Transactions  of  the  American  Ophthal- 
mological   Society,    1868. 


882  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

1869,  Feb.  22.  "Interesting  and  Unusual  Cases  of  Traumatic  Injury 
of  the  Eye."     Proc.  Boston  Soc.  for  Med.  Improvement,  Vol.  vi,  p.  79. 

1869.  Aug.  23.  "  Dislocation  of  the  Lens  through  a  Rupture  of  the 
Sclerotica."     Proc.   Boston  Soc.  for  Medical  Improvement,  vol.  vi,  p.  118. 

1870.  First  Medical  and  Surgical  Report  of  the  Boston  City  Hospital 
(for  five  years  ending  Dec.  31,  1869).  Boston,  1870 — Ophthalmic.  Rept. — 
Table  of  Ophthalmic  Operations — Table  of  Ophthalmic  Out-Patients — by 
H.  W.  Williams,  M.  D. 

1870,  Jan.  6.  '  Two  Cases  of  Double  Spontaneous  Dislocation  of  the 
Lens."     Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Jour.,  New  Series,  v  (lxxxii),  1. 

1870,  Feb.  17.  "  New  Form  of  Crayons  of  Sulphate  of  Copper."  Boston 
Med.  and  Surg.  Jour.,  New  Series,  v   (lxxxii),  7. 

1870,  March  31.  "  Exophthalmos  with  Intracranial  Disease — Death — 
Autopsy."    Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour.,  New  Series,  v  (lxxxii),  13. 

1870,  May  9.  "  Cretaceous  Degeneration  of  the  Crystalline  Lens."  Proc. 
Boston  Soc.  for  Med.  Improvement,  Vol.  vi,  p.  148. 

1871.  "Our  Eyes  and  How  to  Take  Care  of  Them."     Boston,  1871. 
1871,    Aug.    31.       'The    Causes    and    Prevention    of    Nearsightedness." 

Translated  from  the  Wiener  Medisinische  zeitung.    Boston  Med.  and  Surg. 
Jour.,   New   Series,   viii    (lxxxv),  9. 

1871,  Dec.  7.  "  Enucleation  of  the  Eyeball."  Boston  Med.  and  Surg. 
Jour.,  New  Series,  x   (lxxxvii),  23. 

1872,  Dec.  5.  "Improvement  in  Cataract  Operations."  Boston  Med. 
and   Surg.  Jour.,  New  Series,  x    (lxxxvii),  23. 

1873,  July  3.  '  Tattooing  the  Cornea."  Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour., 
lxxxix,   1. 

^73,  July  T  7-  "  Report  of  Twenty-five  Cases  of  Median  Flap  Extrac- 
tion." Read  before  the  American  Ophthalmological  Society,  July  17,  1873. 
Transactions  of  the  American  Ophthalmological  Society,  1873. 

1873,  Oct.  16.  "  Puerperal  Amaurosis ;  its  Importance  as  a  Symptom." 
Boston   Medical   and   Surgical   Journal,   lxxxix,   16. 

1874,  March  26.  "Decussation  of  the  Optic  Nerves,  and  Hemiopia." 
Translated  from  the  Archiv  fur  Ophthalmologic.  Bost.  Med.  and  Surg. 
Jour.,  xc,  13. 

1874,  Oct.  29.  "Serious  Pathological  Changes  in  Myopic  Eyes."  But- 
ton Med.  and  Surg.  Jour.,   xci,   18. 

1875,  Jan.  28,  March  11.  "Babies'  Sore  Eyes."  Boston  Med.  and  Surg. 
Jour.,    xcii,   4,   10. 

1875,  July  22.  "  Some  Peculiar  Phenomena  attending  a  Case  of  Sudden 
Temporary  Loss  of  Hearing  and  Sight."  Read  before  the  American 
Ophthalmological  Society,  July  22,  1875.  Transactions  of  The  American 
Ophthalmological    Society,    1875. 

1875,  Oct.  11.  "Foreign  Body  in  the  Eye."  Proc.  of  the  Boston  Society 
for  Medical   Improvement,  Vol.   vii,  p.  ^. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  883 

1876,  Sept.  5.  "  On  the  Comparative  Value  of  Caustics  and  Astringents 
in  the  Treatment  of  Diseases  of  the  Conjunctiva,  and  on  the  Best  Mode 
of  Applying  these  Remedies."  Trans,  of  t he  International  Medical  Con- 
gress of  Philadelphia,  Philadelphia,  1877. 

1876,  Dec.  21.  "The  Origin  and  Causes  of  Nearsightedness.'*  Extracted 
and  Translated  from  Professor  F.  Arlt — "  Uber  die  Urasachen  und  die 
Entstehung  der  Kurzsichtigkeit."     Bost.  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour.,  xcv,  25. 

1878,  March  14.  "  Eserine  and  Pilocarpine  in  the  Treatment  of  Eye 
Diseases."  Read  before  the  Boston  Soc.  for  Med.  Improvement,  Jan.  28, 
1878.     Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Jour.,  xcviii,   11. 

1878,  July  25.  "  Extirpation  of  the  Ossified  Choroid  without  Enucle- 
ation of  the  Eyeball."  Read  before  the  American  Ophthalmological  So- 
ciety, July  25.  1878.     Trans,  of  the  Am.  Ophthalmological  Soc,  1878. 

1880,  Jan.  22.  "  Neurotomy  of  the  Optic  and  Ciliary  Nerves  as  a  Sub- 
stitute for  Enucleation  of  the  Eyeball."  Read  before  the  Boston  Soc. 
for  Med.  Improvement,  Jan.   13,  1880.     Bost.  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour.,  cii,  4. 

1880,  July  22.  "  Optico-Ciliary  Neurotomy."  Read  before  the  American 
Ophthalmological  Society,  July  22,  1880.     Trans.  Am.  Ophthal.  Soc,  1880. 

1881.  "The  Diagnosis  and  Treatment  of  the  Diseases  of  the  Eye." 
Boston,  1881. 

1881,  Jan.  27.  "  Continued  Toleration  of  Foreign  Bodies  within  the 
Eyeball,  for  Fifteen  and  Twenty-two  Years."  Boston  Med.  and  Surg. 
Jr.,  civ,  4. 

1881,  June  16,  23.  Addresses  delivered  at  Saunders  Theatre,  Cambridge, 
and  at  the  Centennial  Dinner  of  the  Mass.  Medical  Society,  in  Boston, 
June  7  and  8,  1881.     Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour.,  civ,  24,  25. 

1882,  Jan.  18.  "Orbital  Cellulitis  as  a  Sequel  of  Facial  Erysipelas." 
Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour.,  cviii,  3. 

1883,  Oct.  17.  Address  of  Welcome  in  Behalf  of  the  Faculty  on  the 
Occasion  of  the  Opening  of  the  new  Medical  College  Building  on  the 
One  Hundredth  Anniversary  of  the  Foundation  of  the  Medical  School 
of  the  Harvard  University.  Addresses  and  Exercises  at  the  One  Hun- 
dredth  Anniversary,  etc.,  Cambridge,  1884. 

1884,  Dec.  1S.  "  Apparent  and  Real  Amaurosis."  Read  before  the  Bos- 
ton Soc.  for  Med.  Improvement,  Dec.  8,  1884.  Boston  Med.  and  Surg. 
Jour.,  cxi,   25. 

1885,  Oct.  22,  29.  "  Simple  Cataract  Extraction."  Boston  Med.  and 
Surg.   Jr.,   cxiii,   17,   18. 

1886,  "The  Diagnosis  and  Treatment  of  the  Diseases  of  the  Eye." 
2d  Ed.,  Boston,  1886. 

1887,  Oct.  20.  "The  Importance  of  Re-examinations  a-  to  the  Accuracy 
of  Vision  of  Railroad  Employes  and  Mariners."  Bost.  Med.  and  Surg.  J., 
cxvii,  16. 


884  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

18S9,  May  23.  "  Franciscus  Cornelius  Donders — Biographical  Notice." 
Proc.  of  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  Vol.  xxiv,  Boston,  1889. 

1889,  July  17.  "  Multiple  Cysts  of  the  Iris  in  Both  Eyes."  Read  before 
the  American  Ophthalmological  Society,  July  17,  1889.  Transactions  of 
The  American   Ophthalmological  Society,  1889. 

1889,  Nov.  16.  "  Advances  in  our  Knowledge  of  some  Cerebral,  Ocular, 
and  Intraorbital  Lesions,  which  Facilitate  the  Diagnosis  and  Treatment  of 
Important  Diseases."  Read  in  the  section  on  Ophthalmology  at  the 
Fortieth  Annual  Meeting  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  June, 
1889.     Jour,  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  Nov.  16,  1889. 

1891,  May  26.  "  Alfred  Hosmer.  M.  D.  Biographical  Notice."  Proc. 
of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  Vol.  xxvi,  Boston,  1891. 

1892,  May  24.  "  George  Hinkley  Lyman,  M.  D.  Biographical  Notice." 
Proc.  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  Vol.  xxvii,  Boston, 
1893. 

1893,  May  10.  "  Sir  William  Bowman,  Baronet.  Biographical  Notice." 
Proc.  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  Vol.  xxviii,  Boston, 
1893. 

1894,  Sept.  13.  "  Death  of  Professor  Helmholtz."  Boston  Med.  and 
Surg.  Jour.,  cxxxi,  II. 

1894,  Nov.  8.  "  The  First  Administration  of  Ether  in  Paris."  Boston 
Med.  and  Surg.  Jour.,  cxxxi,  19. 

1895,  May  8.  "  Hermann  von  Helmholtz.  Biographical  Notice."  Proc. 
of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  Vol.  xxx,  Boston,  1895. 


FRANCIS  MINOT. 

Francis  Minot  was  born  in  Boston,  on  April  12,  182 1.  His 
education  was  procured  in  the  Boston  Schools  and  at  Harvard 
College.  He  was  graduated  from  Harvard  in  1841  (A.  B.) 
and  from  the  Medical  School  in  1844.  He  then  spent  a  year  or 
more  stndying  in  Europe.  Both  by  inheritance  and  training, 
Minot  was  blessed  with  a  highly  cultured  taste,  and  was  an  ad- 
mirable example  of  the  scholar  and  gentleman  in  medicine.  He 
devoted  himself  to  the  forwarding  of  a  broad  training  in  med- 
ical education.  His  high  ideals,  however,  did  not  carry  with 
them  any  snobbishness  or  caste-making.  On  the  contrary,  they 
meant  to  him  the  fostering  of  consideration  and  charity  for  the 
defects  of  others.  Wisely  conservative,  he  exercised  a  remark- 
able tact  which  he  combined  with  abundant  resources.     This 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  885 

combination  fitted  him  admirably  for  private  practice,  and 
made  him  a  valuable  hospital  physician.  Moreover,  he  had  a 
happy  sense  of  humor  and  a  love  of  nature  which  greatly 
enhanced  his  value  both  as  a  teacher  and  practitioner.  The 
following  anecdote  illustrates  the  man  :  Early  in  his  profes- 
sional career  he  was  called  to  a  young  lady  who  had  taken 
poison  with  suicidal  intent.  She  refused  to  swallow  an  emetic. 
So  Minot  sent  for  two  coal  heavers  from  a  neighborhood 
wharf  on  Charles  Street,  and,  when  they  appeared,  he  gave 
his  patient  the  choice  of  taking  the  emetic  or  being  held  by 
the  coal  heavers  while  it  was  poured  down  her  throat.  It  is 
needless  to  add  that  the  young  woman  took  the  emetic. 

In  1859  Minot  began  a  service  which  was  to  last  twenty- 
seven  years,  as  Visiting  Physician  to  the  Massachusetts  Gen- 
eral Hospital.  From  1886  to  the  time  of  his  death  he  was 
Consulting  Physician  there. 

On  October  26,  1869,  the  Harvard  Corporation  appointed 
Minot  Instructor  in  the  Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine.  On 
October  30th,  1871,  he  was  made  Assistant  Professor,  and 
at  the  same  time  was  appointed  Clinical  Lecturer  on  Diseases 
of  Women  and  Children,  a  new  branch  then  established.  On 
May  25,  1874,  he  was  elected  Hersey  Professor  of  the  Theory 
and  Practice  of  Physic,  and  continued  in  that  chair  until  Sep- 
tember 1.  1 89 1,  when  he  resigned.  Trinity  College  conferred 
the  A.  M.  upon  him  in  i860. 

Minot's  wide  attainments  and  large  experience  in  both  hos- 
pital and  private  practice  made  him  a  valuable  teacher  of  med- 
icine. By  his  associates  he  was  frequently  honored ;  he  was 
treasurer  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  from  1863 
to  1875.  Tn  1878  he  delivered  the  annual  address  before  that 
body,  his  topic  being  "Hints  in  Ethics  and  Hygiene."  He  was 
a  Fellow  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences, 
founder  of  the  Massachusetts  Benevolent  Society  and  its  treas- 
urer, president  (1889)  of  the  Association  of  American  Phy- 


886  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

sicians,  and  president  of  the  Massachusetts  Emergency  and 
Hygiene  Association  (1885-1895).  He  was  a  member  also 
of  the  Boston  Medical  Improvement  Society.  In  all  these 
positions  Minot  exercised  that  tact  and  industry  which  I  have 
mentioned.  It  was  said  of  him  that  "There  must  always  be 
something  unusual  in  one  who  could  do  what  he  did  in  the 
way  he  did  it.  We  have  abundant  examples  of  men  who  have 
achieved  success,  but  whose  methods  and  motives  do  not  com- 
mand our  respect ;  his  were  of  the  best  and  highest."  His 
writings  were  not  confined  to  those  medical  subjects  only  in 
which  he  was  especially  interested,  but  covered  a  wide  field. 
Among  his  publications  were  "The  Importance  of  Estimating 
the  Average  Duration  of  Disease,"  "Cases  of  Pulmonary  Con- 
gestion Followed  by  Recovery  or  Arrest  of  the  Disease,"  and 
''Treatment  of  Acute  Pneumonia."  His  death  occurred  at 
Readville,  Massachusetts,  on  May  11,  1899,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-eight  years. 

JOHN  CALL  DALTON. 

One  of  the  boasts  of  the  Harvard  Medical  School  in  the 
middle  decades  of  the  last  century  was  that  it  had  furnished 
more  skilled  and  practical  teachers  of  medicine  than  any  other 
one  medical  school  in  the  country.  Among  those  eminent 
alumni  perhaps  no  one  is  more  prominent  than  John  Call  Dal- 
ton,  Jr.  The  medical  students  of  the  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons  of  New  York,  when  they  see  that  great  teacher's 
portrait  in  the  large  theatre  of  the  College,  should  feel  its  in- 
spiration. 

Dalton  was  born  in  the  little  town  of  Chelmsford,  near 
Lowell,  Massachusetts,  on  February  2,  1825.  New  York  par- 
ticularly, and  the  medical  profession  generally,  owes  another 
debt  to  this  country-town  in  that  there  too  was  bred  Willard 
Parker,  for  many  years  a  leader  among  medical  teachers,  and 


JOHN    CALL   DALTON,   M.  D. 
r.  s.  v.  1861. 

A.  B.  1844;    M.  I).  1847. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  887 

one  of  the  founders  of  the  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine. 
The  Harvard  Medical  School  claims  him  also. 

John  C.  Dalton,  Sr.,  the  father  of  our  subject,  studied  med- 
icine at  Harvard  after  his  graduation  from  the  College 
(1814),  and  was  graduated  M.  D.  in  1818.  In  this  same 
year  Rufus  Wyman  of  Chelmsford,  was  appointed  superin- 
tendent of  the  McLean  Asylum,  then  just  established  at 
Charlestown.  A  mass  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Chelmsford 
was  called  to  take  action  upon  his  leaving  that  place,  and  it 
was  voted  that  he  be  requested  to  name  his  successor.  The 
extraordinary  confidence  which  they  had  in  Wyman  was 
shown  by  a  solemn  pledge  that  they  would  admit  into  their 
fellowship  and  employ  the  man  whom  he  should  recommend. 
John  C.  Dalton,  Sr.,  then  but  twenty-three  years  of  age,  was 
his  choice.  "No  recommendation  could  have  been  more  de- 
sirable and  essential  to  success,  and  no  appointment  could 
have  been  more  satisfactory  and  fortunate  in  its  results  to  all 
parties."  In  183 1  the  elder  Dalton  moved  to  Lowell,  where 
he  practiced  for  twenty-eight  years.  It  was  during  this  period 
that  his  sons  conceived  that  love  for  medicine  which  was  to 
bear  fruit  in  after  years.  A  fdlow  practitioner  at  Lowell  said 
of  Dalton,  "As  a  physician  he  presents  to  the  younger  mem- 
bers of  the  profession  an  example  worthy  of  study  and  imita- 
tion. He  was  an  ardent  lover  of  his  profession,  and  sought, 
by  careful  study  and  investigation,  to  glean  from  every  source 
those  acquisitions  which  should  enable  him  to  take  high  rank 
among  the  first  in  his  calling,  not  only  by  his  medical  brethren 
of  the  city,  but  which  should  cause  him  also  to  be  recognized 
among  the  leading  physicians  of  the  State.  With  a  fine  per- 
sonal appearance,  accomplished  manners,  and  a  melodious 
voice,  he  united  in  himself  those  mental  acquirements  and 
personal  habits  which  are  essential  to  usefulness  and  popu- 
larity." There  are  to-day  in  Lowell  charitable  organizations 
founded  and  fostered  by  "Old  Doctor  Dalton;"  and  they  bear 


888  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

testimony  to  his  keen  interest  in  humanity  and  to  his  Chris- 
tianity. 

From  his  father  the  son  imbibed  a  love  for  the  medical  pro- 
fession, a  high  appreciation  of  its  power  of  doing  good,  an 
eagerness  to  make  himself  acquainted  with  every  improvement 
in  medical  science,  to  confirm  every  doubtful  point  in  path- 
ology, and  to  exhibit  to  others  in  the  profession  everything 
of  special  interest  and  importance.  From  his  father,  too,  he 
inherited  a  thirst  for  knowledge,  not  for  self-aggrandizement, 
but  for  the  benefit  of  others.  The  son's  life  developed  under 
such  inspirations  as  these  in  a  home  which  was  a  model  of 
moral  strength  and  purity ;  and  we  find  him  among  those  lead- 
ing his  class  at  Harvard  College,  where  he  was  entered  at  the 
age  of  fifteen.  In  that  class  of  '44  he  was  known  as  "the 
ideal  member,"  and  a  brilliant  future  was  foretold  for  him. 
He  had  already  shown  a  decided  preference  for  medicine,  and 
after  his  graduation  entered  upon  it  at  once. 

In  his  second  year  at  the  Medical  School  he  was  appointed 
house-pupil  at  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital.  This  was 
the  eventful  year  of  1846,  when  the  first  successful  demon- 
stration of  ether  in  surgical  operations  was  made.  Dalton 
was  a  participant,  and  the  mystery  surrounding  the  nature  of 
the  compound  used,*  stimulated  his  curiosity  and  ambition. 
He  was  graduated  M.  D.  at  the  Harvard  School  in  1847. 

In  the  establishment  of  the  cholera  hospital  at  Boston,  as 
well  as  in  dealing  with  the  sanitary  and  pathological  questions 
connected  with  the  outbreak  of  cholera  in  this  country  at  that 
time,  Dalton  found  problems  which  inspired  him  to  devote  his 
life  to  study  and  teaching  rather  than  to  practice.  The  report 
furnished  at  the  close  of  the  epidemic  was  written  mainly  by 
him,   and   it    was   illustrated   by   his   drawings.      This   report 

*  The    first    ether    used    was    disguised    in    the    hope    that    it    might    be 
patented. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  8S9 

shows  that  a  new  light  had  arisen,  that  a  more  exact  science 
was  in  hand. 

In  1850  Dalton  went  to  Paris,  seeking  a  teacher  able  and 
willing  to  direct  and  encourage  him  in  experimental  physi- 
ology. Claude  Bernard  was  there  and  taught  him  to  experi- 
ment and  prove,  rather  than  to  rely  upon  guesswork  or  the 
words  of  others.  In  America  there  were  no  trained  students 
of  physiology,  and  although  there  had  been  published  here  and 
there  a  paper  upon  some  physiological  problem,  such  papers 
were  by  general  practitioners  who  followed  the  unfamiliar 
path  a  short  way  and  then  returned  to  their  routine  work. 
Dalton  made  a  life  study  of  physiology.  He  could  announce 
no  great  discoveries,  but  he  placed  the  means  of  proving  or 
simplifying  old  observations  within  the  reach  of  every  student 
of  medicine.  Students  were  no  longer  obliged  to  take  half 
their  physiology  from  the  word-of-mouth  of  their  teachers, 
and  the  other  half  from  the  workings  of  their  own  imagina- 
tions. They  were  brought  face  to  face  with  the  phenomena 
of  life. 

So  Dalton  may  be  called  the  pioneer  American  physiologist. 
The  discovery  of  ether  suggested  modes  of  illustrating  physi- 
ological experiments,  which  Dunglison  and  Samuel  Jackson 
felt  justified  in  excluding,  even  in  case  they  knew  their  value. 
Dalton  had  the  courage  of  his  enthusiasm,  and  demonstra- 
tions upon  living  animals  were  introduced  into  his  laboratory. 
He  was  the  first  in  America  to  do  this.  Then  he  plunged 
into  research  work.  The  idea  of  a  physician  sacrificing  his 
practice  for  such  work  was  a  novelty  here,  and  had  Dalton 
been  forced  to  practice  it  is  probable  that  his  achievements 
would  have  been  developed  more  slowly  if  at  all.  But  his  idea 
in  his  own  case  was  to  divorce  the  study  from  the  practice  of 
medicine,  and  to  devote  his  energies  wholly  to  the  former. 
So  on  his  return  home  he  made  no  attempt  to  gain  a  practice. 
In  185 1  his  essay  on  the  "Corpus  Luteuin"  received  a  prize 


890  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

from  the  American  Medical  Association.  This  stamped  him 
as  an  independent  and  careful  investigator,  and  brought  him 
the  recognition  of  the  Medical  School  of  the  University  of 
Buffalo,  whither  he  was  invited  (1852)  to  the  chair  of  Physi- 
ology. He  held  the  place  until  1854,  when  he  resigned  in 
order  to  accept  the  Professorship  of  Physiology  at  the  Ver- 
mont Medical  College.  His  teachings  of  physiology  at  both 
these  schools  won  for  him  a  name  on  account  of  the  novelty 
of  using  vivisection  in  the  illustrations  of  his  lectures.  He 
also  introduced  impromptu  drawings,  in  which  he  was  un- 
rivaled. 

In  1859  Dalton  accepted  the  Professorship  of  Physiology 
at  the  Long  Island  College  Hospital,  then  just  taking  perma- 
nent form.  He  resigned  in  1861  to  enter  the  army.  In  the 
meantime  (1854-55)  he  had  given  a  course  of  lectures  on 
physiology  in  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  in  New 
York,  in  the  place  of  Alonzo  Clark;  and  in  1855  he  was  ap- 
pointed Professor  of  Physiology  and  Microscopic  Anatomy 
there.  At  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  he  con- 
tinued until  his  death,  occupied  successively  as  Professor  of 
Physiology,  Emeritus  Professor,  and  President. 

In  i860  Dalton  published  a  "Treatise  on  Human  Physi- 
ology," a  text  book  long  familiar  to  thousands  of  American 
physicians.  At  the  time  of  its  publication  and  for  many  years 
after,  it  was  the  best  English  work  on  physiology,  and  its 
influence  upon  medical  teaching  and  thought  has  been  very 
important.  The  book  reached  its  seventh  edition  during  the 
life  of  the  author.  Although  this  was  a  pioneer  work,  without 
a  rival,  and  satisfactorily  accepted  as  a  text-book,  the  author's 
devotion  to  his  subject  was  so  intense  that  he  never  rested 
content,  but  strove  to  deserve  more  fully,  if  possible,  the 
confidence  that  work  had  won  for  him.  He  often  reminded 
the  profession,  "that  fortunately  an  age  of  loose  thinking, 
hasty  generalization  and  foolish  expression  is  also  an  age  of 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  891 

science,  whose  students  are  content  to  learn  patiently  and 
modestly,  who  never  rush  to  conclusions,  who  record  unerring 
and  unchanging  facts  instead  of  formulating  their  own  vain 
notions,  and  who  refuse  to  announce  results  until  they  can  pre- 
sent them  as  certainly  as  the  engineer  throws  his  bridge  across 
the  stream  or  pushes  his  tunnel  to  a  fixed  point  on  the  other 
side  of  the  mountain.'' 

As  might  have  been  expected,  Dalton's  methods,  new  to 
America,  brought  upon  him  reproach,  and  even  the  threats  of 
those  who  opposed  vivisection  under  all  circumstances.  He 
met  the  attack  manfully,  and  before  legislative  bodies  as  well 
as  in  the  public  press,  maintained  convincingly  the  position  he 
had  early  assumed,  that  vivisection,  as  he  practiced  and  taught 
it,  was  essentially  humane.  He  had  an  intense  earnestness  and 
a  fiery  spirit,  which  his  wide  knowledge  and  deep  convic- 
tions accentuated ;  and  no  opposition  could  withstand  his  skill 
and  logic  in  marshalling  these  forces.  Science  owes  him  much 
for  the  battle  he  fought  and  won.  No  one  else  at  that  time 
could  have  done  so  well.  His  "Experimental  Method  in  Med- 
icine" may  still  be  found  an  effective  weapon  against  the  at- 
tacks of  latter-day  fanatics.  Dalton's  other  literary  works  all 
show  his  scholarly  habit  as  well  as  his  scientific  attainments. 
One  of  his  best  productions  is  an  essay  on  the  "Sugar-making 
Functions  of  the  Liver."  In  this  Dalton  did  much  to  remove 
Davy's  criticisms  of  Bernard's  great  discovery,  and  perma- 
nently to  fix  physiological  opinion. 

In  the  midst  of  such  labors  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war 
found  him  one  of  the  first  to  enter  the  service.  Failing  to 
secure  his  friend  S.  Weir  Mitchell  to  take  over  his  duties  as 
Professor  of  Physiology  and  Microscopic  Anatomy  in  the 
College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  he  hastily  made  other 
arrangements  and,  in  April,  1861,  went  to  Washington  as 
surgeon  of  the  7th  Regiment  from  New  York.  He  accompa- 
nied his  command   in   its   "Washington   Campaign."    but    re- 


892  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

signed  when  the  regiment  returned  to  New  York,  "and  looked 
for  an  opportunity  of  more  permanent  connection  with  the 
service."  The  office  of  Brigade  Surgeon  had  now  (1861) 
been  established  by  act  of  Congress.  Dalton  presented  him- 
self for  the  required  examination,  and  on  August  3rd,  1861, 
was  appointed  Brigade  Surgeon  of  Volunteers.  This  position 
later  became  that  of  Medical  Director,  and  ranked  among  the 
highest  medical  appointments  in  the  army.  He  was  assigned 
to  General  Viele's  brigade.  Love  of  country  was  an  inherited 
trait  in  the  Dalton  family.  John  C.  Dalton,  Sr.,  was  over 
sixty-six  years  of  age  on  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  yet  he 
worked  unceasingly  as  a  member  of  the  Sanitary  Commission, 
as  well  as  in  other  departments  which  gave  him  opportunities. 
Once  he  happened  to  be  present  on  the  arrival  of  two  hundred 
wounded  men  in  the  steamer  "Daniel  Webster,"  at  Boston, 
and  immediately  offered  his  services  to  the  Surgeon  General. 
"He  actually  rode  up  State  Street  in  an  open  ambulance  at  the 
head  of  the  column  on  its  way  to  the  hospital,  while  many  a 
young  man  has  turned  away  in  disgust  from  the  service  be- 
cause he  disliked  his  assigned  position  at  some  capital  opera- 
tion." So  spoke  Governor  Andrew  publicly  on  hearing  of  this 
spontaneous  outbreak  of  patriotic  zeal  in  one  of  the  State's 
oldest  and  best  physicians. 

Besides  John  Call  Dalton,  Jr.,  the  old  man  had  three  other 
sons  in  the  service,  one  in  the  civil  department,  one  in  the 
military,  and  one  other  in  the  medical, — the  last,  Edward 
Barry  Dalton.  This  son  was  graduated  from  Harvard  Col- 
lege in  1855,  and  received  his  M.  D.  in  1858  at  the  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons.  He  was  an  Instructor  at  the  Har- 
vard Medical  School  in  1871-72,  when  on  account  of  ill  health 
he  resigned.  After  the  war  he  went  to  New  York.  There 
his  rare  executive  ability  brought  order  out  of  chaos  in  the 
Health  Department  of  that  city,  and  as  Sanitary  Commis- 
sioner he  inaugurated  reforms  which  did  much  for  the  health 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  893 

and  comfort  of  the  people.  Edward  B.  Dalton's  classmate, 
Henry  L.  Higginson,  on  presenting  "Soldiers'  Field"  to  Har- 
vard College  in  1890,  in  commemoration  of  Dalton  and  five 
others,  said : 

;'  The  last  was  a  physician,  by  choice  and  by  nature,  if  intelligence, 
energy,  devotion,  and  sweetness  can  help  the  sick.  After  various  services 
from  the  outstart  till  '64,  he  was  put  by  General  Grant  in  charge  of  the 
great  camp  at  City  Point  in  Virginia,  where  10,000  sick  and  wounded 
men  lay.  Here  he  worked  out  his  life-blood  to  save  that  of  others.  If  I 
may  turn  to  foot-ball  language,  he  played  '  full-back,'  and  no  one  ever 
reached   the   last   goal   if   human   power   could   stop   him. 

''  After  the  end  of  the  war  New  York  City  needed  a  vigorous  medical 
officer  to  cleanse  it  and  guard  it  against  a  threatened  epidemic ;  and 
leading  men  turned  to  our  friend  for  this  work.  General  Grant  was  then 
in  command  of  the  army,  and  was  asked  to  recommend  this  physician. 
But  the  General  was  weary  of  such  requests,  and  refused  without  even 
knowing  who  the  candidate  was.  '  But  hear  his  name,  at  least,'  these 
citizens  said;  and  they  told  it  to  him.  Grant  at  once  wrote:  'Dr. 
Edward  Dalton  is  the  best  man  in  the  United  States  for  the  place ! '  And 
Dr.  Dalton  did  one  more  public  service  and  then  settled  into  private  life. 
Presently  he  died  of  disease  brought  on  by  exhaustion  during  the  war." 

John  Call  Dalton,  Jr.,  served  through  nearly  three  years  of 
the  war,  and  resigned  on  February  14th,  1864.  In  the  army 
he  exhibited  that  capacity  and  thoroughness  in  the  administra- 
tion of  the  affairs  of  his  office  which  were  to  win  for  him  a 
high  place  of  responsibility  and  trust  in  the  world  of  science. 
The  remarkable  traits  of  these  two  brothers  become  more  evi- 
dent when  you  contrast  the  one  with  the  other : 

John  Call  Dalton  was  first  and  always  a  scholar.  He  early 
outgrew  the  bonds  set  by  his  masters,  and  acquired  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  classics  which  made  him  as  familiar  with  the 
ancients  as  he  was  with  his  mother  tongue.  This  love  of  lit- 
erature never  left  him,  and  one  finds  the  result  in  the  purity 
and  accuracy  of  his  lectures,  writings,  and  conversation.  Al- 
though physiology  was  his  great  work  he  did  not  limit  him- 
self to  that.  He  was  a  keen  student  of  many  other  branches 
of  science. 


894  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Edward  Barry  Dalton,  his  brother,  though  quick  in  acquir- 
ing knowledge,  was  essentially  a  man  of  action.  He  won 
the  love  and  confidence  of  his  associates;  and  a  gentle,  yet 
firm  sympathy  was  characteristic  of  him,  whether  in  the  sick 
chamber,  in  the  hospital  or  on  the  battle-field.  He  was  a 
great  organizer  and  administrator.  Witness  his  planning  of 
field-hospitals  on  a  large  scale,  and  his  successes  as  chief  of 
the  Metropolitan  Board  of  Health  of  New  York  city.  As  a 
teacher  in  the  Harvard  Medical  School  his  charm  of  voice  and 
manner,  his  high  spirits,  gaiety,  and  courtesy  won  the  regard 
of  his  associates,  and  the  love  and  devotion  of  his  pupils.  A 
cruel  disease,  contracted  in  the  care  of  his  fellow-men  in  war, 
robbed  the  Medical  School  and  the  profession  of  one  who 
was  fitted  to  attain  a  high  place  as  a  teacher  and  a  practitioner 
of  medicine.  In  October,  1870,  he  was  appointed  Visiting 
Physician  to  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  but  sur- 
vived less  than  two  years,  and  died  at  Santa  Barbara  on  the 
13th  May,  1872. 

Returning  to  New  York  in  1864,  John  Call  Dalton  imme- 
diately entered  upon  his  duties  in  the  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons,  and  was  soon  made  full  Professor  of  Physi- 
ology there,  declining  "all  temptations  to  go  elsewhere,  lec- 
turing, working,  observing,  experimenting  and  only  tempted 
forth  from  the  laboratory  to  take  the  place  of  Vice-President 
of  the  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine  from  1874  to  yy.'' 
During  the  long  series  of  years  which  mark  his  active  work  in 
that  great  school,  Dalton  was  distinctly  and  eminently  a 
teacher.  He  combined  in  a  most  happy  manner  the  scientific 
spirit  with  literary  art  and  aptitude  for  instructing.  To  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  his  subject  he  added  the  skill  of  a 
successful  experimenter,  and  his  words  never  failed  to  attract 
and  hold  the  attention  of  his  hearers.  S.  Weir  Mitchell  wrote 
of  him  : 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  895 

"  He  had,  says  a  pupil,  the  '  teaching  instinct,'  thinking  of  class,  of 
theme,  of  the  questioning  faces  before  him,  but  never  of  himself,  or  how 
he  would  appear.  No  side  issue  disturbed  him,  and  he  had  the  skill  to 
make  the  difficult  appear  simple,  and  evidently  rejoiced  in  his  power  to 
make  things  plain.  Now  and  then  some  side-light  gave  a  glimpse  of  his 
encyclopaedic  knowledge,  but  he  made  no  excursions  for  mere  amuse- 
ment's sake ;  all  was  clear,  logical,  and  the  manner  of  it  earnest,  yet 
lively.  At  times  his  illustrations  were  the  inspirations  of  the  moment, 
as  when  he  showed  the  relations  of  the  corona  radiata  in  the  brain  to  the 
base  of  the  ganglia,  he  began  to  arrange  hastily  scraps  of  felt  on  the 
radiating  fibres  of  a  broom.  He  had  the  rare  gift  of  making  those  who 
listened  desire  to  become  investigators.  He  made  men  think.  Possibly 
lecture  interests  absorbed  too  much  of  him,  but  he  really  created  a  method 
of  teaching  his  branch  such  as  was  before  unknown  among  us." 

Dalton  had  a  mechanical  facility  and  a  manual  skill  which 
served  him  to  good  purpose  in  his  lectures.  To  these  gifts 
was  added  a  dexterity  in  drawing  which  was  truly  artistic, 
as  many  of  his  illustrations  show.  He  was  methodical,  cau- 
tious and  reflective,  and  neither  formed  hasty  opinions  nor 
accepted  opinions  at  second-hand.  He  verified  patiently  every 
hypothesis,  and  his  decision  when  once  announced  usually 
withstood  any  amount  of  attack  from  others.  There  were 
few  eminent  men,  however,  then  doing  original  research  work, 
who  met  as  little  controversy  as  did  he.  With  a  just  recog- 
nition of  the  labors  and  opinions  of  others,  he  never  failed  to 
give  each  man  his  due.  He  was  led  by  an  unselfish  ambition 
to  promote  the  progressive  tendencies  of  his  generation,  and 
especially  to  advance  the  education  of  others  in  his  special 
branch.  As  a  representative  teacher  and  leader  in  the  great 
evolutionary  changes  of  his  time  he  has  left  a  lasting  record 
of  love  and  fame. 

Dalton  was  an  active  member  of  various  local,  state,  and 
national  medical  and  scientific  bodies.  In  these  he  was  es- 
teemed, but  with  characteristic  modesty  and  unselfishness  he 
always  refused  office.     His  numerous  articles  in  the  Journals 


896  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

and  in  Society  Transactions  show  that  he  discharged  faith- 
fully his  indebtedness  in  this  line  to  the  profession. 

In  1883  he  resigned  the  Chair  of  Physiology  in  order  to 
devote  his  time  to  work  as  President  of  the  College  of  Phy- 
sicians and  Surgeons.  In  that  office  his  shrewdness,  wisdom, 
and  knowledge  of  the  world  were  of  immense  service  to  the 
institution,  and  with  it  his  name  is  inseparably  linked.  New 
buildings  were  erected,  new  curricula  introduced,  and  many 
vexations  and  exacting  questions  of  administration  were 
solved.  Such  labors  would  have  overcome  a  constitution  less 
rugged  than  his. 

The  following  extract  from  Dalton's  last  lecture  given  in 
the  old  building  on  Fourth  Avenue  and  Twenty-third  Street 
has  historic  interest : 

"  Now  we  meet  in  this  building  for  the  last  time,  and  soon  these  lecture- 
rooms  will  be  empty  forever.  Yet  I  remember  that  when  we  moved  from 
Crosby  Street  in  January,  1856,  to  this  palace — we  thought  it  a  palace 
then — we  believed  that  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  had  found 
here  at  last  a  permanent  home.  We  had  200  students  in  1856 ;  there  are 
606  in  our  catalogue  this  year.  We  had  seven  professors  then ;  we  have 
seventeen  now.  The  Faculty  in  1856  was  not  great  in  numbers,  but  the 
members  of  it  will  always  live  in  the  history  of  the  healing  art  in  this 
country.  What  noble  deeds  and  great  achievements  cluster  about  the 
names  of  Willard  Parker,  then  our  Professor  of  Surgery ;  Alonzo  Clark, 
of  Practice  and  Pathology ;  Prof.  St.  John,  of  Chemistry,  and  Prof. 
Gilman  of  Obstetrics !  The  present  faculty  are  nearly  all  graduates  of 
this  college.  I  have  seen  them  all  sitting  where  you  sit  now.  No 
better  proof  of  the  efficiency  of  the  curriculum  than  to  point  to  their 
careers. 

'  The  two  hundred  young  men  of  1856  attended  only  three  clinics  a 
week ;  now  there  are  ten.  The  college  term  was  only  from  the  middle  of 
October  to  March  1 ;  now  it  extends  from  October  1  to  the  middle  of 
May.  The  examinations  were  then  oral,  now  they  are  written,  we  had  no 
specialists  in  those  early  days.  In  1856  a  noted  optician  was  also  a  gen- 
eral practitioner." 

Dalton's  last  contribution  to  science  was  his  "Topograph- 
ical Anatomy  of  the  Brain"  in   1885.     In  this  he  presents  a 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  897 

companion  piece  to  his  "Treatise  on  Physiology,"  and  upon 
this  last  work  his  literary  fame  no  douht  will  rest.  For  this 
he  prepared  personally  all  the  specimens,  and  followed  with 
the  closest  care  the  various  steps  in  the  reproduction  from  the 
photographs.  This  is  one  of  the  best  works  in  print  on  the 
gross  anatomy  of  the  brain  surface  and  sections.  In  it  the 
author  brings  into  play  all  the  powers  of  his  skilful,  well- 
trained  eye,  his  ability  for  patient  investigation  and  exact  ob- 
servation, and  presents  the  results  in  that  simple,  happy  style 
which  made  him  so  successful  as  a  teacher.  It  was  a  fitting 
finish  to  a  well  rounded,  useful,  honorable  career.  He  died  in 
New  York.  February  12,  1889.  The  respect  in  which  Dalton 
was  held  is  well  shown  by  the  following  appreciative  words  of 
his  associates  in  the  Union  League  Club,  of  New  York : 

'  The  following  resolutions  in  honor  of  Dr.  Dalton,  prepared  by  Joseph 
H.  Choate,  were  unanimously  adopted  at  the  regular  monthly  meeting 
of  the  Union  League  Club,  last  night : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  members  of  the  Union  League  Club  have  heard 
with  deep  regret  the  sudden  and  unexpected  death  of  Dr.  John  Call 
Dalton,  long  an  earnest  and  devoted  member  of  the  club,  and  one  to 
whom  its  house  has  been  for  many  years  in  large  measure  '  his  home.' 

"  Brought  into  daily  contact  with  him  as  many  of  us  were,  we  hardly 
recognized,  beneath  his  modest  and  unobtrusive  bearing  and  manner,  the 
renowned  man  of  science,  who  by  original  study  and  research  had  con- 
tributed to  the  sum  of  human  knowledge,  in  ways  that  tended  most  surely 
to  promote  the  welfare  of  mankind.  His  conceded  position  as  one  of 
the  first  of  modern  physiologists  was  neither  the  result  of  accident  nor 
the  capricious  reward  of  fortune,  but  was  won  as  such  honors  can  only 
be  won,  by  a  long  and  earnest  life,  devoted  unremittingly  to  an  exalted 
study,  to  which  his  natural  tastes  and  faculties  were  singularly  adapted. 

"  His  professional  bretheren  alone  can  pay  proper  tribute  to  his  scientific 
fame ;  but.  as  sharers  in  the  benefits  of  his  labors,  we  may  all  recognize 
and  rejoice  in  their  value. 

"  Dr.  Dalton's  public  record  was  a  stainless  and  an  honorable  one.  As 
a  surgeon  in  the  National  service,  accompanying  the  7th  Regiment  to 
Washington  in  l86l,  and  afterward  until  his  resignation  in  1864,  rendering 
many  highly  meritorious  professional  services,  he  gave  good  earnesl  of 
patriotism  and  loyalty,  which  were  always  conspicuous  features  of  his 
character.      I  lis   practical   experience    with    the   Federal    soldiers    in   actual 


898  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

service — his  knowledge  by  observation  of  their  trials  and  sufferings — 
made  him  for  life  their  faithful  and  sympathetic  friend  and  champion; 
and  as  he  loved  from  boyhood  the  cause  which  they  served  with  life  and 
limb,  he  followed  to  the  end,  with  undeviating  and  unquestionable  fidelity, 
the  fortunes  of  the  great  party  which  sustained  their  efforts  and  carried 
out  into  practical  legislation  the  results  of  their  triumphs  and  sacrifices. 
He  was  a  Republican  always,  because  he  could  not  help  it,  and  had  no 
sympathy  with  that  modern  fallacy  of  reform,  that  in  times  of  doubt  and 
danger  the  good  men  of  a  party  must  all  leave  it  in  order  to  make  it 
better. 

"  Dr.  Dalton's  voluntary  and  unpaid  services  to  the  community  in  which 
he  lived  were  of  great  and  recognized  value.  Being  graduated  at  Harvard 
and  her  famous  medical  school  more  than  forty  years  ago,  and  having 
had  the  benefit  of  personal  association  with  the  best  minds  in  the  great 
profession  which  he  adopted,  and  the  profit  of  their  instruction,  he  returned 
it  in  full  measure,  not  only  by  advancing  the  boundaries  of  medical  knowl- 
edge, but  by  hard  and  diligent  service  (rendered  painful,  even,  by  his 
personal  infirmities)  as  a  practical  instructor  to  younger  generations  of 
medical  men,  by  his  learned  works  on  physiology  and  his  frequent  and 
valuable  contributions  to  medical  literature.  And  in  the  last  six  years 
of  his  life,  as  the  president  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons, 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  in  the  supervision  of  its  large  and  responsible 
affairs,  in  advancing  and  maintaining  its  high  standard  of  education,  and 
in  carrying  into  practical  and  economical  operation  the  enlarged  means 
of  usefulness  and  beneficence  which  private  munificence  have  recently 
placed  in  its  hands,  he  did  much  for  the  welfare  of  New  York  and 
the  country. 

"  As  a  faithful  friend,  a  charming  companion,  an  honorable  fellow- 
citizen,  his  memory  will  be  ever  dear  to  us.  He  bore  with  manly  and 
uncomplaining  fortitude  sufferings  which  cut  him  off  from  many  of  our 
common  associations  and  enjoyments,  but  his  manly  character  and  gentle 
temper  command  the  love  of  those  who  knew  him  and  the  respect  and 
admiration  of  all  who  came  in  contact  with  him." 

"  The  Trustees  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  desire  to 
express  their  deep  sense  of  the  loss  sustained  by  the  College  in  the 
death  of  its  President,  Dr.  John  Call  Dalton.  During  the  thirty-four 
years  of  his  connection  with  the  College,  first  as  Professor  of  Physiology 
and  afterward  as  President,  Dr.  Dalton  took  a  warm  interest  in  all  that 
concerned  the  welfare  of  the  institution.  The  College  was,  in  a  special 
and  peculiar  sense,  his  real  home.  A  large  portion  of  his  daily  life  was 
spent  within  its  walls,  and  here  was  accomplished  most  of  the  work  which 
rightly  placed  him  in  the  front  rank  of  American  physiologists.  Although 
a    man    of   broad    sympathies    which    carried   him    into   other    departments 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  899 

of  science,  and  into  questions  of  public  affairs,  his  life  was  centered 
here,  and  nothing  lay  so  near  his  heart  as  the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons ;  its  best  interests,  and  its  advancement  to  a  higher  plane  of 
professional  education.  As  a  teacher,  Dr.  Dalton  possessed  qualifica- 
tions of  the  highest  order.  He  was  always  master  of  his  subject;  while 
by  a  seeming  paradox,  his  subject  mastered  him.  There  was,  for  this 
reason,  a  certain  contagiousness  in  his  absorbing  interest  in  his  theme. 
Even  the  dullest  facts,  under  his  treatment  of  them,  acquired  a  new 
freshness,  either  by  some  original  illustration,  some  presentation  from  an 
unusual  standpoint,  or  by  a  quaintness  of  expression  that  gave  them  an 
air  of  novelty.  But  nothing  displayed  so  well  his  rare  genius  in  impart- 
ing knowledge  as  the  skill  with  which  he  simplified  the  most  difficult 
subject  by  the  orderly  arrangement  of  its  principles,  and  the  transparent 
clearness  of  his  language.  To  this  directness  and  simplicity  of  speech, 
which  was  typical  of  the  whole  character  of  the  man,  was  joined  a  peculiar 
charm  of  manner  that  fascinated  everyone  who  came  in  contact  with  him. 
With  children  he  was  a  great  favorite.  From  him  an  explanation  of  the 
mechanism  of  some  familiar  object,  or  a  story  of  natural  history,  told  in 
his  inimitable  way,  brought  greater  delight  to  the  child  at  his  knee 
than  the  most  exciting  fairy  tale  from  anyone  else.  And  so  in  the  lecture- 
room,  although  Dr.  Dalton  had  none  of  the  more  conspicuous  but  com- 
monplace gifts  of  oratory,  there  was  a  certain  personal  magnetism  about 
him — a  rare,  subtle  quality  of  vital  power,  which  at  once  placed  him  in 
sympathy  with  his  audience  and  gave  him  absolute  control  over  it.  To  the 
office  of  President  Dr.  Dalton  brought  a  practical  knowledge  of  men 
and  affairs,  a  love  of  work,  and  thoroughness  in  it,  that  qualified  him  for 
the  position  to  a  degree  that  now  seems  almost  providential.  During  his 
busy  administration  the  College  was  removed  to  its  present  situation,  its 
new  buildings  were  erected,  and  its  curriculum  enlarged.  Out  of  these 
changes  grew  a  host  of  difficulties,  many  of  them  of  an  entirely  novel  char- 
acter, which  could  be  solved  only  by  the  exercise  of  the  soundest  judg- 
ment and  the  most  laborious  attention  to  details.  Dr.  Dalton  approached 
this  task  in  a  conscientious  spirit,  determined  that  the  trust  imposed  by 
the  generous  benefactors  of  the  College  should  be  carried  out  faithfully. 
With  health  already  impaired  by  the  disease  of  which  he  died,  his  labors 
were  indefatigable.  He  seemed  to  feel  that  the  time  was  short ;  but  when 
the  end  came,  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  his  work  had  not 
been  in  vain.  The  ambition  of  his  later  years  was  realized.  Me  had 
lived  to  see  the  College  he  loved  with  a  more  than  filial  affection  enter- 
ing with  bright  prospects  upon  a  new  era  of  prosperity.  Could  he  have 
known,  also,  with  what  a  fulness  of  gratitude  his  unselfish  labors  v 
regarded  by  all  of  the  alumni  and  officers  of  the  College,  who  can  doubt 
that  even  his  well-merited  scientific  honors  would  have  had  less  value 
to  them  in  his  dying  hours  than  such  a  tribute  to  his  personal  character?" 


900  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Publications  of  John  Call  Dalton. 

"  Prize  Essay  on  the  Corpus  Luteum  of  Menstruation  and  Pregnancy." 
ioo  pp.,  4  pi.,  8°.     Philadelphia,  1851. 

"  Some  Account  of  the  Proteus  Anguinus."  American  Journal  of 
Science  and  Arts.     New  Haven,  1853,  xv.    8  pp.,  1  pi.,  8°. 

"  Introductory  Address  delivered  at  the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons,  New  York."     New  York,  1855.     29  pp.,  8°.     New  York,  1855. 

"  On  the  Constitution  and  Physiology  of  Bile."  American  Journal 
Medical  Science,  Philadelphia,  1857,  n.  s.  xxxiv.     20  pp.,  8°.     Philadelphia, 

1857. 

"  Anatomy  of  the  Placenta."  American  Medical  Monthly,  1858,  x. 
14  pp.,  8°. 

"  A  Treatise  of  Human  Physiology."  xxiv,  17-698  pp.,  8°.  Phila- 
delphia, i860;  2d  ed.,  Philadelphia,  1861  ;  3d  ed.,  Philadelphia,  1864; 
5th  ed.,  Philadelphia,  1871  ;  6th  ed.,  Philadelphia,  1875;  7th  ed.,  Phila- 
delphia, 1882. 

"  Vivisection :  What  it  is,  and  What  it  has  Accomplished."  Read  be- 
fore New  York  Academy  of  Medicine.     New  York,  1857.    40  pp.,  8°. 

"  A  Treatise  on  Physiology  and  Hygiene ;  for  Schools,  Colleges  and 
Families."     New  York,  1868.     xvi,  17-399  PP- 

Report  of  Commissioner  New  York  State  Agricultural  Society  for 
Investigation  of  Abortion  in  Cows.     Albany,  1868.     59  pp.,  8°. 

"Trichina  Spiralis:  a  lecture."  Medical  Record.  New  York,  1869-70. 
iv,  4  pp.,  1  pi.,  roy.  8°. 

"  Sugar  Formation  in  the  Liver."  Read  before  the  New  York  Academy 
of  Medicine.     New  York,  1871.     19  pp.,  8°. 

"  Spontaneous  Generation.  The  Substance  of  two  lectures  delivered 
in  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  New  York,  January  12  and 
13."     New  York  Medical  Journal,  1872,  xv.     42  pp.,  8°. 

"  Galen  and  Paracelsus."  New  York,  1873.  New  York  Medical  Jour., 
xvii,  29  pp.,  8°. 

"  On  the  Spectrum  of  Bile."  New  York  Medical  Jour.,  1874,  xix. 
22  pp.,  8°.     New  York,  1874. 

"  A  New  Method  of  Determining  the  Position  of  Absorption  Bands  in 
the  Spectrum  of  Colored  Organic  Fluids."  Transactions  New  York 
Academy  of  Medicine,  1874.     T°  PP->  8°.     New  York,  1874. 

"  The  Origin  and  Propagation  of  Disease."  An  anniversary  discourse 
delivered  before  the  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine.  New  York,  1874. 
30  pp.,  8°. 

"  Experimentation  on  Animals,  as  a  Means  of  Knowledge  in  Physiology, 
Pathology  and  Practical  Medicine."     iv,  5-71  pp.,  120.     New  York,  1875. 

"  Experimental  Production  of  Anaesthesia  by  Cerebral  Compression." 
10  pp.,  8°.     New  York  Medical  Journal,   1876,  xxiv.     New  York,  1876. 


EMINENT  ALUM  XI  901 

"  Report  of  the  Corpus  Luteum."  50  pp.,  4  pi.,  8°.  Boston,  1878.  Trans. 
American   Gynecological   Society,   Boston,   1878,   iii. 

"  Topographical  Anatomy  of  the  Brain."    2  vols.     Philadelphia,  1885,  Fa 

'  The  Differences  in  the  Form  of  the  Adult  Head."  Medical  News, 
Philadelphia.  1884,  xliv,  245. 

"  Doctrines  of  the  Circulation  :  A  history  of  the  physiological  opinion 
and  discovery  in  regard  to  the  circulation  of  the  blood."  Philadelphia, 
1884.     269  pp.,  8°. 

"  Position  of  the  Embryo  in  the  Fowl's  Egg."  Medical  Record,  New 
York,  1 881,  xx,  589. 

"  Buffon  and  Bonnet  in  the  Eighteenth  Century."  (Cartright  Lectures.) 
Lecture  11.    Medical  Record.  New  York,  1882,  xxi,  113-121. 

"  Nervous  Degenerations  and  the  Theory  of  Sir  Charles  Bell."  Medical 
Record,  New  York,  1882,  xxi,  141-150. 

Cartright  Lectures :  "  On  the  Experimental  Method  in  Medical  Science." 
Medical  News,  Philadelphia,  1882,  xl,  145-180.  Same,  G.  P.  Putnam's 
Sons,  New  York,  1882,  108  pp.,  8°. 

"  History  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  in  the  City  of 
New  York,  Medical  Department  of  Columbia  College."  New  York, 
1888.  208  pp.,  8°. 

"  Cerebral  Anatomy.''     Medical  Record,  New  York,  1879,  xvi,  426-428. 

"  Brain     Sections."      Trans.    Medical    Society,    New    York,     Syracuse, 

1879,  I22- 

"  Centres  of  Vision  in  the  Cerebral  Hemispheres."  Medical  Record, 
New  York,  1881,  xix,  337-339- 

,:  Magendie  as  a  Physiologist."  International  Review,  New  York,  1880, 
n.   s.   viii,    120-125. 

"  A  Ready  Method  of  making  Brain  Section  for  Post-mortem  Exami- 
nations." Medical  Record.  New  York,  1880,  xviii,  134.  Also,  Boston 
Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  1880,  ciii,  57. 

"On  the  Form  and  Topographical  Relations  of  the  Corpus  Striatum." 
Brain,   London,    1880-81,   iii,   145-159. 

"An  Introductory  Address  to  the  Medical  Class  of  1860-61  of  tin 
College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons."  24  pp.,  8°.  New  York,  i860. 
Another.  October  16,  1855.     20  pp..  8°.     New  York,  1855. 

"Motor  Centres  in  the  Cerebral  Convolutions:  Their  Existence  and 
Localization."  Report  on  the  above  subject,  December  21,  1S7.4,  by  the 
committee  appointed  by  the  New  York  Society  of  Neurology  and  Elec 
trology,  consisting  of  J.  C.  Dalton,  George  M.  Beard,  J.  W.  S.  Arnold, 
A  Flint.  Jr.,  J.  J.  Mason.  New  York  Medical  Journal.  March,  [875. 
18  pp.,  8°.     New   York,   1875. 

"Vivisection."     2  pp.,  roy.  8°.     New   York    (n.  d.). 


902  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

CALVIN  ELLIS. 

Calvin  Ellis  was  born  in  Boston,  on  August  15,  1826.  He 
was  a  lineal  descendant  in  the  seventh  generation  of  the  men 
who  founded  the  town  of  Dedham  in  1634.  All  his  ancestors 
were  noted  for  intellect  and  high  character,  and  he  was  their 
worthy  descendant, — especially  for  his  belief  in  work,  for  his 
love  of  letters,  and  for  his  firm  religious  convictions. 

After  a  good  preparatory  course  at  schools  in  Boston,  Ellis 
entered  Harvard  College,  where  he  was  graduated  in  the  class 
of  1846.  While  at  College  he  took  a  great  interest  in  sports, 
and  was  a  member  of  the  first  Harvard  Boat  Club.  He  used 
to  say  that  during  his  college  life  he  "played,"  and  that  he 
first  awoke  to  the  full  meaning  of  life  when  he  studied  med- 
icine. He  was  graduated  from  the  Harvard  Medical  School 
in  1849,  ar,d  tne  same  year  was  appointed  house-pupil  at  the 
Massachusetts  General  Hospital.  There  he  showed  the  traits 
which  endeared  him  to  patients,  physicians,  students,  and 
friends  during  his  later  life.  Of  a  cheerful,  sunny  disposition, 
he  was  respectful,  unassuming  in  manner,  a  scholar  and  a  gen- 
tleman always. 

After  two  years  in  the  hospitals  of  France  and  Germany, 
where  he  devoted  the  greater  part  of  his  time  to  clinical  med- 
icine, morbid  anatomy  and  pathology,  he  returned  to  his  na- 
tive city  and  became  assistant  to  J.  B.  S.  Jackson,  Professor 
of  Pathological  Anatomy  at  the  Harvard  School.  He  was 
also  made  Admitting  Physician  and  Pathologist  to  the  Massa- 
chusetts General  Hospital.  Seldom  was  any  one  more  for- 
tunately placed.  With  the  best  of  teachers  to  guide  him  and 
great  opportunities  for  observation,  it  would  be  unlikely  that 
he  should  not  make  progress. 

We  shall  see  that  Ellis  was  alive  to  his  opportunities.  In 
1865  he  was  elected  Visiting  Physician  to  the  Hospital,  which 
increased   his   chances   of   securing  a   better   position    in   the 


CALVIN  ELLIS. 

A.  B.  1846;    M.  I).  1849. 

Adjunct  Professor  Theory  and  Practice  1863-1865. 

Professor  Clinical  Medicine  1867-1883. 

Dean  Medical  School  1869-1883. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  903 

School.  Accordingly  on  April  25,  1863,  the  Corporation  ap- 
pointed Ellis  Adjunct  Professor  of  the  Theory  and  Practice  of 
Physic.  After  serving  George  C.  Shattuck  for  two  years  in 
this  place,  he  was  transferred  to  the  Department  of  Clinical 
Medicine,  and  on  October  20,  1865,  was  made  Adjunct  Pro- 
fessor to  Henry  I.  Bowditch,  whom  he  succeeded  on  Septem- 
ber 28,  1867,  as  Professor  of  Clinical  Medicine.  Two  years 
later  he  was  chosen  Dean  of  the  Medical  School,  and  held  this 
office  till  June  25,  1883.* 

Whether  we  consider  Calvin  Ellis  as  the  cheerful,  cour- 
teous, successful  physician;  the  able,  forceful,  writer;  the  lucid, 
systematic,  scientific  teacher ;  the  progressive  reformer  of  med- 
ical thought  and  methods  of  teaching;  or  as  one  of  Harvard's 
generous  benefactors,  we  find  that  he  did  all  things  well. 
Ellis  wyas  unquestionably  one  of  the  most  valuable  teachers 
the  Harvard  Medical  School  has  had.  He  showed  that  we 
must  place  the  diagnosis  of  disease  upon  a  scientific  basis,  he 
scouted  mere  authority.  Nothing  was  to  be  regarded  settled 
until  proven.  "Snap"  diagnoses  were  beneath  his  notice,  and 
so-called  intuition  in  diagnosis  was  to  him  little  less  than 
charlatanism.  He  taught  that  every  step  in  the  diagnosis 
should  be  proven.  In  this  he  drilled  his  pupils  in  a  fashion 
which  to  many  other  teachers  seemed  slow  and  overdone. 
Diagnosis  by  elimination  was  his  method.  How  well  he  suc- 
ceeded is  shown  by  the  fact  that  if  there  is  one  distinguishing 

*  The  Corporation  of  Harvard  College  passed  the  following  resolution 
October  8,  1883:  "In  view  of  the  retirement  of  Dr.  Calvin  Ellis  as  Dean. 
the  President  and  Fellows  desire  to  record  their  high  opinion  of  his 
services  in  that  office  during  the  past  fourteen  years.  They  believe  that 
the  safe  conduct  of  the  School  through  the  grave  changes  of  constitution 
and  policy  which  this  eventful  period  has  witnessed  is  in  large  measure 
due  to  the  disinterestedness,  good  judgement  and  firmness  of  Dr.  Ellis,  and 
that  his  professional  and  personal  standing  with  the  Medical  Profession 
and  the  public  has  been  of  great  assistance  to  the  Faculty  in  their  im- 
portant undertakings." 


904  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

mark  about  Harvard  Medical  graduates  to-day  it  is  their  ad- 
herence to  this  method.  The  foundation  for  practice  was  well 
laid  by  Ellis  and  his  followers.  Nor  was  this  reform  his  only 
work  of  reconstruction. 

He  was  Dean  of  the  Medical  School  in  the  reformation 
period,  and  the  newly  elected  President  found  in  him  a  leader 
ready  and  able  to  carry  out  reforms  in  that  department  of  the 
University  where  custom,  tradition,  and  personal  interests 
seemed  strong-  enough  to  defeat  any  attack.  It  will  not  seem 
invidious  to  claim  a  great  share  of  the  victory  for  this  gentle, 
fearless,  honest  teacher.  He  lived  to  see  success  assured.  Not 
so  with  his  life  work  on  Symptomatology.  It  must  be  one  of 
our  keenest  regrets,  as  it  is  a  loss  to  medicine,  that  this  able 
man  did  not  leave  this  last  work  of  his  in  form  for  publication. 
But  many  of  his  writings  survive.  A  full  list  includes  some 
forty-two  articles  published  between  1855  and  the  year  of  his 
death.  His  Boylston  Prize  Essay  in  i860  on  "Tubercle"  was 
perhaps  the  best  paper  on  that  subject  prior  to  Koch's  dis- 
covery of  the  bacillus.  Then  his  introductory  lecture  to  the 
Medical  Class  in  1866  remains  luminous  for  him  who  looks 
for  good  things  in  medicine. 

Ellis  became  a  Fellow  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts 
and  Sciences  on  November  9,  1859,  an^  was  a  distinguished 
member  of  that  learned  body  at  the  time  of  his  death.  During 
the  Civil  War  he  went  twice  to  the  front  upon  errands  of 
mercy,  and  twice  returned  a  victim  to  the  infection  from  which 
he  tried  to  rescue  others. 

His  generous  bequests  to  the  School  so  faithfully  executed 
by  his  sister  have  been  as  helpful  in  a  material  manner  as  was 
his  teaching  to  the  intellectual  side  of  student  life.  His  old 
friends  and  pupils  quote  him  with  pride  and  affection.  Said 
his  former  teacher,  Holmes: 

"  Of  the  large  number  of  students  with  whom  I  have  been  in  relation 
as  teacher  1  do  not  remember  one  about  whose  future  I  felt  more  assured. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  905 

He  had  all  the  signs  of  promise;  active  intellegence,  industerous  habits, 
love  of  his  work,  a  vigorous  frame,  a  cheerful  temperment,  an  agree- 
able presence  stamped  with  every  outward  sign  of  a  sincere  and  manly 
character.  ...  He  united  many  rare  qualities.  He  had  studied 
disease  long  and  delligently.  He  never  forgot  that  medical  science  is 
only  the  handle  of  the  medical  art.  His  assiduity,  his  patience,  his  self- 
devotion  as  a  practitioner  were  unmeasured  and  unstinted,  as  I  have 
known  from  personal  observation.     He  forgot  everything  but  his  patient." 

Another  of  his  teachers,  Henry  I.  Bowditch,  said : 

"  He  was  my  pupil  in  his  days  of  medical  study,  my  assistant  at  the 
Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  and  afterwards  my  successor  there  and 
also  in  the  Professorship  of  Clinical  Medicine  in  Harvard  University ; 
and  finally  he  was  always  a  most  beloved  friend.  For  many  years  past 
I  have  often  sought  his  advice,  and  no  one  that  I  met  gave  wiser  counsel 
than  he  did  ;  for  his  words  were  uttered  only  after  a  most  rigid  exam- 
ination of  the  matter  in  hand. 

Ellis  acquired  his  interest  in  morbid  anatomy  from  J.  B.  S. 
Jackson,  with  whom  he  was  a  favorite  assistant.  This  knowl- 
edge and  training  were  important  factors  in  his  life  as  a 
teacher.  He  was  the  friend  of  students,  and  entered  into 
their  life  and  studies  with  the  enthusiasm  of  a  junior;  he  was 
appreciative  of  their  endeavors,  but  the  critic  of  their  mis- 
takes. The  trustees  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital 
wanted  him  for  Visiting  Physician  and  were  glad  to  get  him. 
So  too  felt  the  Corporation  of  the  University  when  they 
elected  him  Professor  of  Clinical  Medicine.  Finally,  when 
his  failing  health  made  these  duties  impossible,  the  Corpora- 
tion waited  three  years  in  the  hope  that  his  strength  might 
return  and  his  labor  be  renewed.     He  died  on  December  14, 

1883.    > 

Calvin  Ellis'  method  of  instruction  has  been  mentioned. 
Here  is  a  tribute;  "Dr.  Ellis  while  unravelling  any  case  was 
less  brilliant  than  some  other  more  fluent  professors,  and  he 
was  called  a  little  'slow'  and  tedious,  as  some  thought.  But, 
upon  our  arrival  at  Vienna,  by  comparing  our  method  of  grap- 
pling with  cases  in  the  German  Hospitals  with  the  desultory 


906  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

and  imperfect  examinations  made  by  students  of  some  noted 
schools  in  other  large  cities  of  our  country,  we  soon  found  that 
we  had  been  more  thoroughly  drilled  than  they.  The  result 
was  that  we  understood  more  quickly  and  fully  than  they  did 
all  of  the  intricacies  of  a  case."  In  his  connection  with  the 
Medical  School,  Ellis  stood  for  higher  education.  In  the 
changes  of  1870-71  he  was  known  as  a  "conservative  re- 
former." He  was  slow  and  deliberate  in  coming  to  a  decision, 
but  once  he  had  decided  that  a  certain  course  of  action  was 
the  best,  no  opposition  could  turn  him.  It  is  to  this  spirit 
of  determination  that  the  younger  members  of  the  Medical 
Faculty  owe  the  victory  won  under  his  leadership. 

As  a  practitioner  Ellis  was  very  eminent.  He  was  vigorous, 
kindly,  firm,  gentle.  In  the  sick  room  all  attention  was  for 
the  patient.  He  was  straight-forward,  and  neither  misrepre- 
sented conditions  nor  encouraged  false  hope.  His  regard  for 
the  rights  and  feelings  of  his  associates  made  him  the  confi- 
dant of  many  of  his  fellow  practitioners.  One  grateful  friend 
said  "He  was  simplicity  incarnate,  a  medical  saint."  Ellis  was 
generous  to  poor  folks  and  to  deserving  charities ;  he  gave 
freely  of  his  time  and  money,  and  helped  many  educational 
undertakings  also.  When  the  new  Medical  Library  needed 
funds  for  a  card  catalogue,  Ellis  gave  one  thousand  dollars, 
and  at  his  death  he  left  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars 
to  the  Medical  School.* 


*  "  All  the  residue  and  remainder  of  the  said  trust  property  my  trustees, 
in  the  event  aforesaid,  shall  convey  in  fee-simple,  transfer  and  pay  over 
to  the  said  President  and  Fellows  to  hold  the  same  as  a  permanent  fund, 
and  apply  the  net  rents  and  income  thereof  and  of  all  substituted  property; 
in  every  year,  after  first  deducting  and  accumulating  in  every  year  five 
per  centum  of  such  net  income  as  an  increase  of  the  fund  towards  paying 
the  salary  of  a  professor  of  pathological  anatomy.  Provided,  however, 
that  if  such  professor  would  receive  in  any  one  year,  if  the  whole  of  the 
said  net  income  remaining  after  such  deduction  of  five  per  centum  were 
paid   to   him,   a   salary   of   more   than   $5000   for   such   year,   arising    from 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  907 

President  Eliot  in  his  report  for  1883-84  pays  the  following 
tribute  to  Ellis : 

"  Cautious,  exact,  conscientious,  earnest  and  cheerful,  he  was  one  of  the 
best  teachers  of  medicine  the  University  has  ever  had.  His  daily  example, 
as  a  wise  and  high  minded  practitioner,  and  a  kindly,  honorable  and 
disinterested  man,  was  of  great  worth  to  the  students,  for  they  saw  that 
these  qualities  were  the  foundation  of  his  success  as  a  physician,  and  of 
his  wholesome  influence  in  the  Hospital,  the  School  and  the  Medical  pro- 
fession. He  was  Dean  of  the  Medical  School  from  1869  to  1883,  and  in 
this  important  office  contributed  with  all  his  weight  to  the  reform  in 
medical  education  which  the  Faculty  effected  within  that  period.  Of  his 
strong  faith  in  the  beneficence  of  medical  science  he  gave  proof  by  leav- 
ing large  bequests  for  the  promotion  of  that  science  at  the  University." 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Medical  Faculty  of  Harvard  Univer- 
sity, held  February  2,  1884,  the  following  was  adopted  : 

"  For  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  Dr.  Calvin  Ellis  has  been  connected 
with  the  Medical  School  of  Harvard  University.  He  had  been  recognized 
as  a  student,  as  a  young  man  of  good  promise,  endowed  not  only  with 
superior  abilities  but  with  the  sterling  elements  of  character  which  enable 
those  who  know  the  student  to  predict  his  future  success  with  no  mis- 
givings. 

gifts,  legacies  and  other  permanent  endowments,  (including  the  income 
of  this  legacy)  then,  and  in  every  such  year,  the  amount  paid  him  from 
the  income  of  this  legacy  shall  be  reduced  so  that  the  total  income  from 
such  sources  shall  be  $5000  and  no  more.  And  if  the  income  from  gifts, 
legacies,  and  other  permanent  endowments,  exclusive  of  the  income  of 
this  legacy,  shall  amount  in  any  year  to  $5000,  then,  and  in  every  such 
year,  the  income  from  this  legacy  shall  be  witheld  altogether  from 
such  professor.  The  amount  so  witheld,  whether  it  be  the  whole  or  a  part 
of  the  net  income,  after  deducting  five  per  centum,  shall  be  applied  to 
the  salary  of  the  professor  of  physiology,  with  the  same  provision  and 
limitations  as  those  herein  declared  touching  the  salary  of  the  professor 
of  pathological  anatomy.  And  any  amount  in  every  such  year  still  remain- 
ing unapplied  shall  next  be  applied  to  the  salary  of  the  professor  of 
anatomy  with  the  same  provisions  and  limitations  as  arc  herein  declared 
touching  the  salary  of  the  two  professors  first  named.  And  if  the  whole 
or  any  part  of  such  income  still  remains  unexpended  in  any  year,  the 
same  shall  be  expended  in  such  year  for  such  purposes  in  the  Medical 
Department  of  the  said  College  as  the  said  President  and  Fellows  shall 
deem  most  useful." 


908 


HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 


'"  lie  began  early  his  professional  life,  giving  his  especial  attention  to 
the  subject  of  morbid  anatomy,  following  in  the  steps  which  had  marked 
the  long  and  patient  career  of  our  lamented  friend,  the  late  Dr.  J.  B.  S. 
Jackson.  This  branch  of  science  involves  great  labor  and  self  sacrifice, 
and  repays  them  with  an  exact  knowledge  of  the  nature  and  course  of 
disease  not  to  be  obtained  by  any  easier  method  of  study.  His  devotion 
to  this  arduous  pursuit  laid  the  foundation  in  science  of  the  skill  which 
he  carried  into  the  art  of  healing,  and  of  his  success  as  a  teacher  of 
pathology  and  clinical  medicine. 

"  Dr.  Ellis  took  an  active  and  never  flagging  interest  in  all  that  related 
to  the  administration  of  the  Medical  School  of  the  University.  He  had  a 
special  care  for  the  microscopic  department,  which  was  largely  developed 
under  his  influence,  and  for  the  use  of  which  he  made  a  gift  in  1872, 
of  five  hundred  dollars.  From  1869  to  1883  he  was  dean  of  the  Medical 
Faculty,  and  discharged  all  the  duties  of  that  office  with  the  fidelity  which 
he  carried  into  whatever  he  undertook.  It  is  now  several  years  since, 
he  began  to  suffer  from  the  disease  which  caused  his  death.  Even  after 
this  disease  had  greatly  impaired  his  active  powers  he  would  still  attend 
the  meetings  of  the  Faculty  and  when  at  length  he  was  missed  from 
his  usual  place  those  who  knew  him  felt  that  he  was  doomed,  for  no 
less  than  some  imperative  hindrance  could  keep  him  from  being  with 
them. 

"  His  long  period  of  suffering  bravely  borne  has  at  last  come  to  an 
end,  and  he  has  left  us  to  mourne  the  loss  of  a  precious  life  cut  off  in 
the  midst  of  its  usefulness.  Of  that  diligent,  faithful,  honorable  life  this 
Faculty  has  reaped  some  of  the  best  fruits.  His  memory  will  alway 
be  gratefully  cherished  by  those  who  have  been  associated  with  him  in 
the  work  of  medical  education,  and  they  leave  on  record  for  those  who 
come  after  them  this  affectionate  tribute  to  the  virtues  and  talents  of  their 
able,  upright,  noble-hearted  colleague  and  friend.*' 

Writings  of  Calvin  Ellis. 

1855.  "  Evidences  of  Arrest  of  Tuberculosis  Disease  in  the  Lungs." 
Am.  Journal  of  the  Medical  Sciences,  Philadelphia. 

1855.  -Induration  of  the  Brain  in  a  Child"  Am.  Jour.  Med.  Sc, 
Philadelphia. 

1855.  "Glandular  Proliferous  Cyst.  Disease  of  the  Liver.  Autopsy." 
Am.  Jour.  Med.  Sc,  Philadelphia. 

1856.  "  Inflammation  and  Abscesses  of  the  Lung,  caused  by  Closure  of 
the  Primary  Bronchus."     Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour. 

1856.  "Case  of  Suicide  by  Antimony."     Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour. 

1857.  "Remarkable  G  Extra-uterine  Foetation,  coexisting  with 
Uterine  Pregnancy."     Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour. 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  909 

1858.  "  Case  of  Purpura  simulating  Rheumatism  and  Erysipelas."  Bos- 
ton M.  &  S.  Jour. 

i860.     "  Leucocythaemia."     Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour. 
i860.     "  Two  Cases  of  Malformation."     Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour. 
i860.     "On  Tubercle."     (Boylston  Prize  Essay.)     Am.  Jour.  Med.  Sc, 
Philadelphia. 
And  the  following,  printed  in  the  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal : 
1861.     "  Autopsy  of  a  Case  of  Cerebral  Disease  without  Cerebral  Lesion." 
1 861.     "  Softening  of  the  Heart  as  a  Cause  of  Sudden  Death." 
1861.     "  Obstinate  Vomiting  terminating  in  Death.    Disease  of  Kidneys." 
1861.     "  Two  Cases  of  Leucocythaemia,  in  which  Crystals  formed  in  the 
Blood  after  its  Removal  from  the  Body." 

1863.  "  Case  of  Addison's  Disease." 

1864.  "  A  Malformed  Heart." 

1864.  Reports  of  Cases.  Cerebro-spinal  Meningitis,  Typhoid  Pneu- 
monia, Disease  of  Heart,  and  Aorta ;  Intestinal  Hemorrhage.  1865.  The 
Action  of  Causes  of  Depression  in  the  Production  of  Structural  Change ; 
the  Pathological  Anatomy  of  Pneumonia. 

1865.  "  Congenital  Tumors,  containing  Foetal  Structures." 
1865.     "  Spontaneous  Laceration  of  the  Aorta.     Two   Cases." 

1865.  "  The  Relations  of  Health  and  Disease."  An  Introductory  Ad- 
dress at  the  Harvard  Medical  School. 

1866.  "  Spontaneous  Evolution  in  Labor.  (Curious  Powers  of  Na- 
ture.)" 

1867.  "  Letter  Explanatory  of  a  Criticism  on  his  '  Relations  of  Health 
and  Disease.'  " 

1869.  "  Letter  from   Berlin.     Account   of  the  Medical  School  there." 

1870.  "  The  Tendency  of   so-called   Local  Diseases  to  Generalization." 

1871.  "Vomiting  as  the  Sole  Prominent  Symptom  of  Disease  of  the 
Kidneys." 

1871.     "Autopsy  of  a  Double  Monster  (Ischiopagus  Tripus)." 
1874.     "On  a  Case  of  Echinococcus  Cyst."     (Interesting  as  foreshadow- 
ing his  "Symptomatology.") 

1874.  "  Ovarian  Cyst." 

1875.  "Capillary  Bronchitis  of  Adults."     (In  Am.  Clin.  Lect.  Series.) 

1876.  "  General  Softening  of  the  Brain,  seldom  seen  as  a  Pathological 
Condition ;    never  as  a  Clinical  Disease." 

1876.  "The  Curved  Line  of  Pleuritic  Effusion." 

1877.  "Constant   Irrigation  in  a  case  of  Chronic  Cystitis." 

1877.     "The  Point  of  Origin  of  the  so-called  'Bronchial  Respiration.'" 

1877.  "Ulcerative  Endocarditis:  Embolism  of  the  Arteries  of  the 
Left  Leg." 

1878.  "Osteomalacia  in  a  Man." 


910  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

1879.  "  Chest   Expansion   in   Pleurisy." 

1879.  "Dilated  Bronchi." 

1879.  "  Probable  Acute  Nephritis." 

1879.  "  Effusion  of  Blood  into  the  Left  Hemisphere  and  Lateral  Ven- 
tricle." 

1880.  '  The  Significance  of  Albuminuria  as  a  Symptom." 
1884.  "Symptomatology."     (An  unfinished  manuscript.) 


RICHARD  MANNING  HODGES. 

Richard  M.  Hodges  was  born  at  Bridgewater,  Massachu- 
setts, November  6,  1827.  He  was  graduated  from  Harvard 
College  in  1847,  and  received  his  M.  D.  at  the  Medical  School 
in  1850.  After  a  course  in  midwifery  at  Dublin  and  a  course 
in  anatomy  and  surgery  at  Paris  he  returned  to  Boston  and 
began  the  practice  of  medicine.  Among  Hodges'  contem- 
poraries in  Paris  were  Calvin  Ellis,  C.  D.  Homans,  J.  Nelson 
Borland  and  B.  S.  Shaw. 

Hodges  was  appointed  Demonstrator  in  Anatomy  at  the 
Harvard  School  on  September  24,  1853,  and  served  for  eight 
years.  O.  W.  Holmes  was  the  Professor  of  Anatomy  and 
Physiology  at  the  School  in  this  period.  The  preparation  of 
material  for  the  class  was  a  matter  of  great  personal  pride  to 
Holmes.  Every  little  detail  was  arranged  with  special  care, 
and  nothing  was  left  undone  to  present  the  subject-matter 
properly  and  effectively.  Hodges  was  fitted  to  meet  the  wishes 
of  his  chief.  He  had  an  exceptional  knowledge  of  anatomy, 
and  competent  judges  say  that  his  dissections  "were  marvels 
of  beauty  and  skill."  In  the  museum  at  the  Medical  School 
are  many  handsome  specimens  of  his  handiwork,  all  finely 
injected  and  colored  by  processes  then  quite  new.  About  this 
time  Hodges  was  fortunate  in  winning  the  friendship  of  H. 
J.  Bigelow,  then  well  established  in  his  career.  Bigelow's 
extensive  practice  and  the  great  demands  made  upon  his  time 
by  other  labors  gave  Hodges  many  opportunities  to  find  prac- 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  911 

tice  through  the  recommendations  of  his  friend.  This  solid 
endorsement  had  its  effect,  and  he  rose  rapidly  in  the  profes- 
sion. With  a  natural,  pleasing  manner  and  a  winning  person- 
ality which  we  know  Hodges  possessed,  it  does  not  seem  like 
an  exaggeration  to  read  that  "as  a  fashionable  and  popular 
physician  he  has  rarely  had  an  equal  in  Boston;  and  his  de- 
cided, sensible  advice  and  warm  sympathy  made  him  a  great 
favorite." 

Bigelow  found  in  Hodges  an  apt  pupil,  with  an  earnestness, 
decision  and  self-confidence  which  appealed  strongly  to  his 
own  nature.  Upon  the  resignation  of  S.  D.  Townsend  in 
1863,  Hodges  was  appointed  Visiting  Surgeon  to  the  Massa- 
chusetts General  Hospital.  There  he  was  associated  with 
Cabot,  Bigelow,  Clark,  Gay,  and  J.  Mason  Warren.  He  was 
always  the  friend  as  well  as  the  teacher  of  house-officers  at  the 
Hospital,  and  many  surgeons  who  in  after  years  became  dis- 
tinguished owe  much  to  the  patient,  careful  oversight  of  their 
old  chief,  Hodges.  As  an  operator  he  was  one  of  the  best  as 
well  as  one  of  the  neatest.  He  was  well  grounded  in  anatomy, 
schooled  under  one  of  America's  greatest  surgeons,  and  pos- 
sessed of  broad,  scientific  views.  His  writings  upon  excision 
of  joints,  upon  spiroidal  fractures  and  upon  other  surgical 
conditions,  became  authoritative.  He  was  the  first  to  point 
out  the  frequency  of  a  sinus  in  the  sacro-coccygeal  region,  to 
which  he  gave  the  name  "Pilo-nidal  sinus"  from  its  hairy 
contents  and  nest-like  shape. 

Hodges  was  elected  Adjunct  Professor  of  Surgery  on  Jan- 
uary 27,  1866,  and  proved  himself  of  great  assistance  to  Bige- 
low, who  was  then  perfecting  his  well  known  demonstration  of 
the  Y  ligament  and  its  bearing  cm  hip  dislocations.  Teaching 
did  not  appeal  especially  to  Hodges,  whose  nervous  tempera- 
ment made  each  course  of  lectures  more  laborious,  so  he  re- 
signed on  July  10th,  1872.  He  continued  his  services,  how- 
ever, at  the  Hospital  until    [885,  when  lie  resigned.     The  loss 


912  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

to  the  hospital  was  expressed  upon  a  later  occasion  by  the 
Trustees  in  the  following  terms : 

"  Wise  in  council,  energetic  and  efficient  in  action,  clearheaded,  skilful, 
manly  and  sympathetic,  Dr.  Hodges  combined  to  an  unusual  degree  the 
qualities  essential  to  the  model  surgeon.  Through  them  he  rapidly  attained 
a  leading  position  among  the  surgeons  of  New  England,  second  only  to 
that  of  his  esteemed  and  illustrious  colleague  with  whose  name  his  own 
was  usually  coupled.  A  successful  and  experienced  teacher,  the  import- 
ance of  his  example  and  of  his  services  to  the  Hospital  in  the  training 
of  his  juniors  will  ever  be  gratefully  remembered.  Loyal  and  generous 
to  them,  both  in  and  out  of  season  his  willing  strength  was  often  called 
upon  and  never  in  vain." 

The  reason  for  his  retirement  from  the  staff  of  the  Hospital 
has  been  explained  variously.  He  was  no  doubt  influenced 
by  his  increasing  deafness,  as  well  as  by  the  mental  labor 
necessary  for  him  at  his  age  to  keep  up  with  the  rapid  changes 
in  surgical  methods.  At  that  time  abdominal  surgery  was 
coming  to  overshadow  all  other  branches  of  the  art,  and  im- 
provements in  technique  followed  thick  and  fast.  Already 
well-to-do,  there  was  no  imperative  reason  why  he  should  con- 
tinue duties  of  an  arduous  nature.  Then  too  his  friend  and 
companion  Bigelow  was  leaving  the  hospital. 

Hodges'  association  with  Henry  J.  Bigelow  makes  his  ac- 
count of  the  ether  controversy  almost  official.  It  is  entitled, 
"The  Introduction  of  Surgical  Anaesthesia,"  1891. 

In  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  he  was  Anniversary 
Chairman  in  1872  and  delivered  the  annual  discourse  in  1886, 
on  "Undercurrents  of  Modern  Medicine."  He  also  read 
"Modern  Surgery"  before  this  Society,  and  he  wrote  a  life  of 
Bigelow. 

The  man  had  sterling  qualities ;  he  was  active,  steady,  and 
ambitious,  with  an  opinion  decisive,  almost  dogmatic;  he  was 
blunt  to  brusqueness  at  times,  yet  always  sincere  and  honest. 
Of  habit  he  was  punctilious,  and  insisted  upon  the  same  qual- 
ity in  others,  who  came  into  professional  or  social  relations 


EMINENT  ALUMNI  913 

with  him.  Although  modest  to  a  degree  he  had  a  decided 
and  self-reliant  manner  which  never  failed  him  when  needed. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Overseers  of  Harvard  Col- 
lege from  1878  until  1890,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Amer- 
ican Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  and  of  the  Boston  Society 
for  Medical  Improvement  from  1854.  He  retired  from  active 
practice  in  189 1,  and  died  in  Boston  on  February  9,  1896. 


HARVARD  MEDICAL  MEN 

IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR  AND  IN  THE 

SPANISH  WAR. 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  917 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

HARVARD     MEDICAL     MEN     IN     THE    CIVIL     WAR     AND     IN     THE 

SPANISH    WAR. 

As  the  Harvard  medical  student  returns  from  his  daily  lec- 
tures at  the  School,  his  eye  may  light  upon  an  inscription 
above  the  main  staircase,  high  up,  and  he  will  read 

In  the  Memory 

of  the 

Graduates  and  Members  of  the 

Medical  School  of  Harvard  University 

Who  fell  in  the  Army  and  Navy 

of  the  United  States  during 

the  war  of  the  rebellion. 


Erected  by  the  Class  of  1869-70. 
John  Lawrence  Fox 
Charles  Henry  Wheelwright 
Francis  Miller  McLellan 
Samuel  Lee  Bigelow 
Edward   Hutchinson   Robbins   Revere 
William  Henry  Heath 
Samuel  Foster  Haven 
Robert  Ware 
Lucius  Manlius  Sargent 
Ira  Willson  Bragg 
John  Edward  Hill 
Dixi  Crosby  Hoyt 


018  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Henry  Sylvanus  Plympton 
Edward  Bromfield  Mason 
John  Fletcher  Stevenson 
William  Borrowe  Gibson 
Neil  K.  Gunn 
James  Wightman 
Eugene  Patterson  Robbins 
Henry  Livingston  Dearing 
Nathaniel  Bowditch 
Oliver  Dean  Root. 


At  the  left  of  the  entrance  to  the  Dean's  office  is  a  bronze 
tablet 

To  the  Memory  of 

Zabdiel  Boylston  Adams 

1 829- 1 902 

Surgeon  32nd.  Capt.  56th  Mass.  Inf. 

A  faithful  officer  in  the  war 

which  preserved  the  Union  and  destroyed  Slavery. 

His  companions  in  arms  of  the 

Commandery  of  the  State  of  Mass. 

of  the 

Military  Order  of  the  Loyal  Legion 

of  the  United  States 

Have  here  placed  this  tablet 

Lex  Regit  Anna  Tuentur. 

The  service  to  their  country  and  fellow  men,  the  hardships 
and  heroism,  the  honor  to  their  Alma  Mater,  the  lesson  of 
loyalty  and  devotion  taught  the  generations  by  Harvard's  sons 
in  the  Civil  War,  have  been  told  and  retold.  Our  pride  in 
their  achievements  is  as  great  as  in  the  record  of  those  ancient 
Colonial  Harvard  Men.     I  shall  tell  here  of  those  Harvard 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  919 

men  only  who,  as  medical  graduates  or  undergraduates,  en- 
tered their  country's  service.  I  shall  not  attempt  to  give  a 
complete  record  of  each  man's  service.  This  has  been  done 
already  exhaustively,  laboriously  and  sympathetically  by  oth- 
ers.* A  full  record  compiled  from  their  books  as  well  as  from 
other  sources  will  be  found  in  the  statistical  part  of  this  work. 
Let  us  follow  some  of  the  movements  of  the  Union  forces  on 
land  and  sea,  noting  the  part  taken  by  our  Alumni. 

A  word  as  to  the  status  of  the  Army  Medical  Department 
at  that  time.  The  conditions  in  the  army  service  during  the 
Revolution  have  been  described  in  these  pages.  It  will  be 
remembered  how  Washington  called  the  attention  of  the  Con- 
gress to  the  unsettled  state  of  affairs :  "There  is  no  principal 
director  nor  any  subordination  among  the  surgeons;  disputes 
and  contentions  have  arisen,  and  must  continue  until  it  is 
reduced  to  some  system."  A  reorganization  of  the  Medical 
Department  resulted.  Church's  treason,  Morgan's  persecu- 
tion for  the  shortcomings  of  the  Congress,  and  Shippen's  re- 
organization of  the  service,  are  all  a  matter  of  history.  The 
summary  of  it  is,  that  the  war  produced  among  us  a  number 
of  excellent  military  surgeons,  creditable  alike  to  their  country 
and  to  their  profession. 

The  war  of  1812  proved  the  necessity  of  a  recognized  head 
in  the  Medical  Department,  and  in  1818  (May  14th,  Act) 
Joseph  Lovell  was  appointed  the  first  Surgeon  General.  The 
second  Surgeon  General,  Thomas  Lawson,  was  successful  in 
giving  a  dignity  and  rank  to  the  position  of  medical  officers 
such  as  they  had  not  previously.  It  was  thought  a  great  step 
in  advance  when  in    1849,  Latin,  physics,  practical  anatomy 

♦Francis  H.  Brown  A.  M. ;  M.  D.  "Harvard  University  in  the  War  of 
1861-1865." 

Henry  I.  Bowdilch.  M.  D.  in  the  "  Roll  of  Honor  of  the  graduates  and 
students  of  the  Medical  School,"  which  work  is  in  manuscript  form  in  the 
library  at  Cambridge. 


920  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

by  means  of  dissections,  and  actual  clinical  experience  were 
added  to  the  requirements  in  the  admission  examination. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  the  army  numbered 
16,400,  with  a  medical  staff  of  115,  or  .7  per  cent  of  the  whole 
number  of  officers  and  enlisted  men.  In  spite  of  this  high 
percentage  of  surgeons  the  actual  number  of  those  holding 
positions  of  the  higher  grade  was  small.  This  had  its  evil 
consequences  and  explains  much  of  the  suffering  among  the 
wounded  and  the  apparent  inhuman  negligence  of  those  in 
command.  Medical  officers  had  the  right  to  criticise;  they 
might  petition  Congress ;  they  might  suggest  plans  and  urge 
expediency  for  the  relief  of  the  sick  and  wounded,  but  they 
could  not  command  even  the  drivers  of  improvised  ambu- 
lances. The  following  letter  will  give  some  idea  of  the  state 
of  the  department  in  the  early  years  of  the  War  :* 

"  Surgeon   General's   Office. 

"Sept.  7,   1862. 
"  Honorable   Edwin   M.   Stanton,  Secretary  of  War. 

"Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  ask  your  attention  to  the  frightful  state  of 
disorder  existing  in  the  arrangement  for  removing  the  wounded  from  the 
field  of  battle.  The  scarcity  of  ambulances,  the  want  of  organization,  the 
drunkenness  and  incompetency  of  the  drivers,  the  total  absence  of  ambu- 
lance attendants  are  now  working  their  legitimate  results,  results  which 
I  feel  I  have  no  right  to  keep  from  the  knowledge  of  the  department. 
The  whole  system  should  be  under  the  charge  of  the  Medical  Depart- 
ment. An  ambulance  corps  should  be  organized  and  set  in  instant  opera- 
tion. I  have  already  laid  before  you  a  plan  for  such  an  organization, 
which  I  think  covers  the  whole  ground,  but  which  I  am  sorry  to  find 
does  not  meet  the  approval  of  the  general-in-chief.  I  am  not  wedded  to 
it.  I  only  ask  that  some  system  may  be  adopted  by  which  the  removal  of 
the  sick  from  the  field  of  battle  may  be  speedily  accomplished  and  the 
suffering  to  which  they  are  now  subjected  be  in  future  as  far  as  possible 
avoided. 

"Up  to  this  date  six  hundred  wounded  still  remain  on  the  battlefield 
in  consequence  of  an  insufficiency  of  ambulances  and  the  want  of  a  proper 

*  Taken  with  other  material  on  this  question  from  a  series  of  articles 
on  the  "  Army  Medical  Department,"  Journal  American  Medical  Associa- 
tion, vols  XLII,  et  seq. 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  921 

system  for  regulating  their  removal  in  the  Army  of  Virginia.  Many  have 
died  of  starvation,  many  more  will  die  in  consequences  of  exhaustion,  and 
all   have   endured  torments   which   might   have  been  avoided. 

"  I  ask,  Sir,  that  you  will  give  me  your  aid  in  this  matter,  that  you  will 
interpose  to  prevent  a  recurrence  of  such  consequences  as  have  followed 
the  recent  battle,  consequences  which  will  inevitably  ensue  on  the  next 
important  engagement  if  nothing  is  done  to  obviate  them.  I  am,  Sir,  very 
respectfully,  "  Your  obedient  servant. 

"William  A.  Hammond,  Surgeon  General." 

Hammond's  description  of  the  pitiable  state  of  the  six  hun- 
dred or  more  wounded  soldiers  on  the  battlefield  of  the  second 
Bull  Run  represents  one  extreme,  while  the  conditions  then 
existing  for  the  care  of  the  sick  and  wounded  in  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac  under  McClellan  may  be  accepted  as  the  other 
extreme.  The  contrast  may  appear  infinitesimal,  but  there 
was  a  step  in  advance.  The  Army  of  the  Potomac  was  the 
best  appointed  of  all  our  armies.  North  or  South.  It  had  for 
its  Medical  Director  Jonathan  Letherman,  who  at  the  age  of 
thirty-eight  had  just  received  his  promotion  to  major  when 
McClellan's  retreat  after  the  seven  days'  fight  gave  him  oppor- 
tunity to  put  into  practice  that  scheme  for  an  Ambulance  Corps 
which  has  ever  since  been  associated  honorably  with  his  name. 
Letherman's  plan  was  simple  but  effective.  He  secured  volun- 
teer officers  and  men.  who  with  such  ambulances  as  could  be 
procured  were  placed  under  the  charge  of  the  Medical  Direc- 
tors of  the  several  corps.  A  distinctive  uniform  and  some 
simple  drill  were  prescribed.  This  plan  had  its  obvious  de- 
fects, for  we  know  what  was  the  relationship  of  the  Medical 
Department  to  the  fighting  department. 

The  line  officers  believed  that  their  troops  were  there  to 
fight,  consequently  when  a  call  was  made  for  men  for  detached 
service,  such  as  ambulance  duty,  those  men  thought  to  l>e  least 
fitted  for  fighting  duty  were  invariably  detailed.  The  evil 
consequences  of  this  system  need  not  be  further  traced.  It 
was  the  sort  of  system  to  be  expected   of  a  country  unac- 


922  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

quainted  with  the  science  of  war.  Let  us  be  thankful  that  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  had  some  sort  of  an  Ambulance  Corps 
in  its  seventeen  battles,  its  two  sieges,  its  many  skirmishes  and 
minor  engagements,  during  that  eventful  year  of  1862.  The 
devotion  of  this  untrained  volunteer  band  deserves  our  pro- 
found gratitude.  The  army  surgeon  in  battle  stands  alone. 
No  well  laid  plans  are  given  him;  no  martial  music  leads  him; 
no  cheers  greet  his  return ;  without  a  Grant,  a  Lee,  a  Sherman, 
or  a  Sheridan  as  the  ideal  to  which  he  may  arrive,  he  must 
stand  always  ready  to  rush  into  the  fighting,  and  carry  off 
the  wounded  from  the  field.  Hence  we  not  infrequently  find 
him  Unionist  still,  "fighting  his  battle"  under  a  Lee,  a  John- 
ston, or  a  "Stonewall"  Jackson.  The  very  qualities  calcu- 
lated to  lead  ordinary  men  on  to  deeds  of  heroism  in  the  heat 
of  battle  are  expected  in  the  case  of  a  surgeon  to  give  a  quick- 
ness and  clearness  to  the  mental  faculties,  to  steady  the  hand 
and  to  soften  the  voice  of  him  whose  right  to  higher  grade 
is  refused  "unless  it  can  be  shown  that  the  skill  and  efficiency 
of  surgeons  are  increased  by  an  increase  of  rank  and  pay." 
Few  chapters  in  American  history  are  finer.  To  the  reader, 
curious  in  these  matters,  I  recommend  the  huge  collection  of 
data  in  the  "Medical  and  Surgical  Historv  of  the  Rebellion." 
I  have  abstracted  for  this  chapter  such  facts  in  part  as  apply 
to  our  own  alumni.  But  a  further  word  regarding  the  devel- 
opment of  the  army  medical  department  up  to  its  present 
standard : — 

That  ambulance  system  inaugurated  in  the  army  of  the 
Potomac  proved  its  value  at  Antietam,  Fredericksburg  and 
Gettysburg.  Our  experience  proved  the  value  of  the  two- 
wheeled  ambulance  for  one  horse,  and  the  four-wheeled  am- 
bulance for  two  horses,  in  spite  of  the  opinions  of  the  Eng- 
lish, French,  and  Sardinian  surgeons  at  Sebastopol  that  such 
vehicles  were  impracticable  for  battlefields.  Letherman's  plan 
was  more  or  less  the  standard  dining  the  Civil  War,  in  battles 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  923 

in  which  any  attempt  at  ambulance  work  was  undertaken.  In 
America  neither  the  loss  of  over  575,000  men*  nor  the  care 
of  1,057,423  sick,  nor  the  expenditure  of  $47,000,000  in  the 
Medical  Department  seem  to  have  impressed  the  authorities, 
and  we  find  the  detail  system  prevailing  in  the  Army  up  to 
1887.  From  that  date  a  somewhat  modern  plan  has  been 
carried  out.  An  organization  consisting  of  men  specially 
trained  for  such  work,  under  the  charge  of  non-commissioned 
officers,  was  instituted  in  the  army.  In  1892  the  Army  Med- 
ical School  was  established  in  Washington,  a  school  which 
has  been  very  helpful  in  the  advancement  of  medical  science. 
Then  came  the  Spanish  WTar  of  1898,  at  which  time  the  Med- 
ical Department  consisted  of  177  commissioned  officers  and 
750  enlisted  men,  in  a  standing  army  of  25,000.  The  250,000 
volunteers  brought  their  surgeons  with  them, — three  to  each 
regiment,  and  three  hospital  stewards.  The  Hospital  Corps 
had  to  be  made  up  by  transfering  men  from  the  volunteer  regi- 
ments to  the  Regular  Hospital  Corps,  no  volunteer  hospital 
corps  having  been  authorized. 

The  lessons  of  the  military  and  sanitary  inadequacy  of  this 
system  resulted  in  little  improvement,  as  can  be  seen  from 
a  study  of  the  Act  of  February  2,  1901,  on  the  reorganization 
of  the  army.  The  recommendations  of  the  committee  ap- 
pointed by  President  McKinley  to  investigate  the  conduct  of 
the  War  Department  are  instructive,  and  should  result  in  fur- 
ther improvements.  Tt  is  interesting  to  note  the  opinion  of 
the  late  Colonel  Dallas  Bache,  Assistant  Surgeon  General,  on 
the  value  of  the  field  hospital,  a  factor  of  great  importance  in 
the  army  medical  department.     He  says : 

"  The  division  hospital,  which  is  the  logical  unit  for  medical  field  serv- 
ice, and  will  survive  the  new  criticism,  has  created  for  itself  a  picturesque 
reputation  that  is  destined  to  make  trouble.  It  has  frames,  floors,  wire 
mattresses,   much   bedding,   and   many   conveniences.     The   hospital   of  ex- 


*  Union  loss  279,376;   Confederate  loss  300,000. 


924  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

perience  is  a  lean,  though  active  thing,  by  the  side  of  this  opulent  hotel. 
It  is  for  nimble  service,  and  often  stripped  to  the  simplest  necessities, 
waterproofs,  blankets,  and  a  chance  concession  for  empty  bed  sacks.  It 
must  often  ignore  tables  of  supply  ;  it  cannot  afford  a  superfluous  ounce 
of  flesh  or  anything  else.  Its  transportation  must  go  for  its  canvas,  stores, 
clothing,  utensils,  and  tools.  Its  intent  is  to  cover  barely,  to  receive  the 
sick  and  wounded,  but  not  to  harbor  them  long ;  to  be  ready  at  an  hour's 
notice  to  move.  Furniture  would  be  as  impossible  as  melodeons  or  lawn 
mowers.  Such  a  hospital  must  be  manned.  Its  personnel  are  soldiers 
first,  and  nurses  afterward ;  for  it  is  for  hard  service,  and  meant  for 
fatigue,  privation,  weathers  and  confusion.  It  may  be  idle  sometimes,  and 
acquire  Spartan  luxuries,  but  nothing  but  some  overwhelming  misery  of 
the  sick  should  intrude  an   unaccustomed  and  alien   attendance." 

On  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  William  Johnson  Dale 
(M.  D.  '40)  was  summoned  by  Governor  John  A.  Andrew 
of  Massachusetts  at  11  A.  M.,  April  16th,  1861,  to  aid  in 
despatching  troops  to  Washington.  Dale  was  appointed  Sur- 
geon-General of  the  Massachusetts  Volunteer  Militia,  with 
the  rank  of  colonel,  June  14,  1861,  and  in  December  of  the 
same  years  he  was  made  Assistant  Surgeon,  U.  S.  A.,  which 
rank  he  held  until  the  close  of  the  war.  Dale  had  general 
supervision  of  all  matters  connected  with  the  Medical  Staff, 
and  the  care  of  the  sick  and  wounded  sent  home.  He  also 
had  the  appointment  of  agents  for  the  care  of  Massachusetts 
soldiers  at  various  stations,  was  charged  with  furnishing  vol- 
unteer surgeons;  and  with  the  pay,  discharges,  furloughs, 
pensions,  etc.,  of  Massachusetts  soldiers. 

At  the  first  blood-shed  on  the  19th  of  April,  186 1,  George 
F.  Shattuck  was  present  as  lieutenant  in  the  6th  Massachu- 
setts Volunteer  Militia.  He  returned  to  Harvard  for  his 
M.  D.  degree  in  1862.  It  is  worth  noting  that  the  Faculty  of 
the  Medical  School  voted  (Nov.,  1861)  "that  the  time  a 
medical  student  is  engaged  in  the  army  be  allowed  to  him  as 
equivalent  to  the  same  period  passed  with  an  instructor,  pro- 
vided that  he  can  procure  a  certificate  from  the  surgeon  of 
the  regiment  to  which  he  is  attached,  that  he  has  constantly 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  925 

been  occupied  in  the  discharge  of  his  professional  duties." 
John  P.  Ordway  (M.  D.  '61)  claims  to  have  performed  at 
Annapolis  the  first  surgical  operation  of  the  war,  23rd  April, 
1861.*  In  the  fighting  prior  to  the  first  Bull  Run,  we  find 
Augustus  P.  Chamberlain  (M.  D.,  '55),  at  Big  Bethel,  Vir- 
ginia, and  John  E.  Hill  (M.  D.,  '60),  at  Centreville,  Virginia, 
where  he  received  wounds  which  caused  his  death  on  Septem- 
ber nth,  1862. 

John  F.  Head  (M.  D.  '43)  was  Chief  Medical  Officer  at 
West  Point  on  the  outbreak  of  war,  and  after  serving  for 
two  years  in  other  departments  was  returned  to  West  Point 
in  1864.  He  was  brevet  lieutenant-colonel  U.  S.  A.  at  the 
close  of  the  war. 

At  the  first  battle  of  Bull  Run  many  Harvard  graduates 
were  participants.  Zabdiel  Boylston  Adams  (M.  D.,  '53), 
who  afterward  served  through  the  Peninsula  Campaign,  was 
at  the  siege  of  Yorktown,  in  the  battles  of  the  Wilderness, 
Fair  Oaks,  Seven  Days'  Fight;  and  with  Pope,  Burnside, 
Hooker,  and  Mead  in  all  their  greater  battles.  Reenlisting 
as  first  lieutenant  in  November,  '63,  he  was  in  the  Wilderness 
with  Grant,  and  after  being  wounded  he  experienced  the  hor- 
rors of  Gordonsville,  Lynchburg  and  Libby  prisons.  Again 
reenlisting  in  '65,  he  commanded  his  regiment  at  the  battle  of 
Petersburg,  where  he  received  his  fourth  wound.  The  Legion 
of  Honor  made  no  mistake  in  dedicating  a  tablet  to  this  physi- 
cian-soldier's memory. 

Francis  LeBaron  Monroe  (M.  D.,  '61)  followed  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  in  all  its  engagements  until  July,  1864. 

William  A.  Hatch  (M.  D.,  '67),  enlisting  as  a  private,  won 
promotion  to  lieutenant,  captain  and  major,  in  the  Peninsula 
and  Virginia  campaigns,  and  at  Fredericksburg, 


*  On  the  15th  of  April,  1861,  in  saluting  the  flag  at  Fort  Sumter  before 
evacuation,  one  man  was  killed,  and  three  men  wounded  by  the  premature 
explosion  of  a  gun.     Brown,  p.  266. 


926  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Benjamin  E.  Donham  and  Samuel  L.  Morse,  both  graduates 
of  the  Medical  School,  class  of  '68,  served  as  privates  at  Bull 
Run,  Morse  being  among  the  wounded. 

Israel  T.  Hunt  (M.  D.,  '70)  served  as  Hospital  Steward 
after  Bull  Run,  with  Sherman  in  his  South  Carolina  expedi- 
tion. 

Elisha  Hopkins  (M.  D.,  '54),  reentered  the  army  in  1862 
as  Assistant  Surgeon,  and  served  at  Baton  Rouge,  Port  Hud- 
son, Winchester,  Fisher's  Hill  and  Cedar  Creek. 

Silas  A.  Holman  (M.  D.,  '55)  enlisted  15th  June,  '61,  and 
was  appointed  Surgeon  to  the  7th  Massachusetts  Volunteers. 
His  list  of  battles  includes  a  continuous  service  from  the  Penin- 
sula campaign  to  Cold  Harbor;  and  he  was  brevetted  Colonel 
in  March,  '65. 

Charles  M.  Carleton  (M.  D.,  '61)  was  Surgeon  in  the  18th 
Connecticut  Volunteers,  and  Acting  Brigade  Surgeon  at  the 
defense  of  Baltimore. 

Henry  C.  Dean  (M.  D.,  '61)  served  as  Surgeon  with  New 
York  regiments  from  1861  to  June  6th,  1865,  and  with  these 
regiments  saw  war  in  all  its  horrors. 

Edward  P.  Morong  (M.  D.,  '54),  entered  as  Surgeon  to 
the  2nd  Maryland  Volunteers,  June,  1861,  and  resigned  as 
brevet  lieutenant-colonel  in  March,  1866. 

George  H.  Oliver,  of  the  same  class  at  the  Medical  School, 
volunteered  as  Assistant  Surgeon  in  the  118th  New  York 
Regiment,  and  resigned  January  1st,  1865. 

Joseph  D.  Mitchell  (M.  D.,  '50)  was  in  the  South  Carolina 
campaign  of  1862,  and  served  until  1868. 

Isaac  G.  Cole  (M.  D.,  '65)  was  a  private  and  Hospital 
Steward  from  1861  to  1865,  and  was  well  "  trained  "  for  his 
degree. 

Samuel  A.  Green  (M.  D.,  '54)  the  first  medical  officer  from 
Massachusetts  for  the  three  years'  enlistment,  was  Assistant 
Surgeon  at  Bull  Run;  he  was  in  the  battle  of  Roanoke  Island. 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  927 

after  which  he  was  instrumental  in  having  laid  out  at  Roanoke 
a  cemetery  consecrated  to  the  Union  dead.  He  served  in  the 
North  and  South  Carolina  expeditions,  was  at  the  siege  of 
Fort  Wagner,  and  later  instituted  smallpox  hospitals  at  St. 
Augustine  and  Jacksonville.  He  shared  the  humiliating  fate 
of  Butler's  command  at  Bermuda  Hundred,  and  ended  his 
military  career  at  Richmond. 

Augustus  C.  Hamlin  (M.  D.,  '55)  went  from  Bull  Run 
and  Yorktown  to  the  Army  of  Virginia,  where  he  was  Sur- 
geon-in-Chief  of  the  Flying  Hospital  in  the  battles  of  Cedar 
Mountain.  Sulphur  Springs,  and  second  Bull  Run.  In  the 
following  year  he  took  part  in  the  assault  on  Fort  Wagner. 

Jansen  T.  Paine  (M.  D.,  '62)  volunteered  in  the  6th 
Massachusetts  Volunteer  Militia,  April  15,  '61,  as  Assistant 
Surgeon.  He  was  at  Bull  Run.  Reentering  the  army  after 
the  expiration  of  his  three  months,  he  served  with  the  31st 
Massachusetts  at  Baton  Rouge,  Port  Hudson  and  in  the  Red 
River  Campaign.  He  finished  his  service  as  Surgeon  in  the 
2nd  Louisiana  Volunteers. 

Edward  R.  Cogswell  (M.  D.,  '67)  was  a  private  in  the 
44th  Massachusetts  Volunteers,  and  won  a  sergeancy  at  Kins- 
ton  and  Whitehall. 

Edward  N.  Whittier  (M.  D.,  '69)  served  in  all  the  greater 
battles  of  Virginia  from  the  first  Bull  Run  to  Petersburg  in- 
clusive. He  also  took  part  in  the  battles  of  Winchester,  where 
he  was  wounded,  Fisher's  Hill  and  Cedar  Creek. 

Henry  Bryant  (M.  D.,  '43)  was  in  the  battles  of  Winches- 
ter and  Bull  Run.  Bowditch  says :  "  Dr.  Bryant  was  one  of 
the  ablest  of  the  hospital  surgeons  that  left  Massachusetts. 
His  Hospital  at  Washington,  D.  C,  was  a  model  of  neatness, 
and  unequaled  for  its  thorough  discipline.  He  gained  great 
reputation.  He  died  at  the  West  Indies  while  engaged  in 
natural  history  researches  about  a  year  after  the  war  ended." 

Samuel  Kneeland,  of  the  same  class  at  the  Medical  School. 


928  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

was  in  the  battles  of  Newbern,  Kinston,  and  others  of  the 
North  Carolina  expedition  of  '62.  Later  in  the  war  he  had 
charge  of  hospitals  at  New  Orleans  and  at  Mobile.  He  left 
the  service  brevet  lieutenant-colonel  U.  S.  Volunteers. 

Joseph  W.  Clift  (M.  D.,  '62)  joined  the  6th  Corps  in  Vir- 
ginia immediately  after  graduation,  and  was  present  at  most 
of  the  engagements  of  that  Corps  up  to  November,  '64. 

Edward  Russell  (M.  D.,  '62)  joined  the  26th  Massachusetts 
as  Assistant  Surgeon  in  July.  '62,  taking  part  in  all  the  en- 
gagements until  mustered  out  November,  1865.  His  last  year 
of  service  was  with  the  4th  Massachusetts  Cavalry. 

William  Nichols  (M.  D.,  '62)  served  as  Assistant  Surgeon 
and  Surgeon  from  April,  '62,  to  September,  '65.  His  regi- 
ments were  the  2nd  Massachusetts  Volunteers  and  the  3rd 
Massachusetts  Heavy  Artillery. 

Another  future  graduate  with  the  2nd  Massachusetts  Vol- 
unteers was  Curtis  E.  Munn  (M.  D.,  '66).  He  was  with  the 
1st  Massachusetts  Cavalry  and  the  27th  Massachusetts  Infan- 
try prior  to  joining  the  Second. 

Andrew  J.  Thompson  (M.  D.,  '61)  was  Medical  Director 
on  General  Davidson's  staff,  and  was  attached  to  the  8th  New 
Hampshire  Volunteers. 

John  S.  Emerson  (M.  D.,  '55)  was  Surgeon  in  New  Hamp- 
shire regiments  from  1862  to  1865. 

Joshua  B.  Treadwell  (M.  D.,  '62)  entered  the  army  as  As- 
sistant Surgeon  in  the  45th  Massachusetts  in  October  of  the 
year  of  his  graduation  from  the  Medical  School,  and  was  with 
his  regiment  in  those  early  battles.  He  served  four  months 
with  the  5th  Massachusetts  in  '64,  and  with  the  62nd  Mas- 
sachusetts and  54th  Massachusetts  Volunteers  during  '65. 

William  Thorndike  (M.  D.,  '57)  served  with  two  regi- 
ments that  saw  hard  service,"  the  34th  Massachusetts  Volun- 
teers and  the  39th  Massachusetts.  His  service  runs  from 
August,  '62,  to  June,  '65. 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  929 

George  A.  Stuart  (M.  D.,  '66)  was  a  private  and  later  a 
Hospital  Steward,  and  saw  much  active  service  in  the  9th 
and  32nd  Massachusetts  Volunteers  in  1861-62,  and  later  in 
the  39th  Massachusetts  Volunteers  in  '64  and  '65. 

Samuel  P.  Fowler  (M.  D.,  '74)  was  a  sergeant  in  the  8th 
Massachusetts  in  the  nine  months  enlistment  of  '62. 

Frederick  H.  Thompson  (M.  D.,  '70)  was  with  the  10th 
Massachusetts  Volunteers. 

Thomas  J-  W.  Kennedy  (M.  D.,  '46)  was  Hospital  Steward 
with  the  nth  Massachusetts  Volunteers. 

McDowell's  defeat  at  the  first  Bull  Run  roused  the  national 
government  to  a  realization  of  the  seriousness  of  the  situation, 
as  well  as  to  a  recognition  of  their  military  shortcomings.  In 
response  to  Lincoln's  call  for  500,000  men  many  physicians 
entered  the  service. 

In  the  eighteen  months  required  to  open  the  Mississippi 
river  many  Harvard  medical  graduates  tasted  the  bitterness 
of  war  for  the  first  time. 

Hall  Curtis  (M.  D.,  '57)  was  in  various  North  Carolina 
and  Virginia  skirmishes  of  1862. 

Here,  too,  James  A.  Emmerton  (M.  D.,  '58)  was  initiated, 
and  after  an  extended  hospital  experience,  saw  active  service 
at  Appomattox  and  on  the  James  River,  and  at  Cold  Harbor. 

Ethan  A.  P.  Brewster,  who  received  his  M.  D.  at  Harvard 
in  1865,  rose  from  second  lieutenant  to  major  during  this 
campaign. 

Others  engaged  in  these  battles  were  Reuben  Willis  (M.  D., 
'67),  William  Ingalls  (M.  D.,  1836),  Frank  Wells  (M.  D.. 
'68),  Dixi  Crosby  Hoyt  (M.  D.,  '60),  Silas  E.  Stone  (M.  D., 
'60),  Theodore  W.  Fisher  (M.  D.,  '61)  and  Isaac  F.  Gal- 
loupe  (M.  D..  '49).  The  last  named  was  present  at  thirty- 
one  actions  in  North  Carolina. 

Edward  II.  R.  Revere  (M.  D.,  '49)  was  captured  by  the 
Confederates  at  the  battle  of  Ball's  Bluff,  and  later  served  at 


930  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

the  battles  of  West  Point,  Fair  Oaks,  and  in  Pope's  Campaign 
in  Virginia.  He  was  killed  at  Sharpsburg,  17th  September, 
1862. 

Robert  F.  Stratton  (M.  D.,  '57)  served  at  Corinth  and  in 
Sherman's  march  across  Georgia.  He  was  in  charge  of  the 
Vicksburg  Hospitals  in  '64. 

On  the  roster  at  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  April  6~7th,  '62,  we 
find  the  name  of  Webster  Lindsly  (M.  D.,  '57),  who  later 
was  an  active  participant  in  the  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Ala- 
bama and  Mississippi  campaigns. 

John  Call  Dalton  (M.  D.,  '47)  was  General  Viele's  Chief 
Brigade  Surgeon,  and  was  present  at  the  reduction  of  Fort 
Pulaski,  Georgia. 

George  M.  Staples  (M.  D.,  '55)  was  assigned  to  Fort  Henry 
after  its  capture,  and  was  present  at  Fort  Donelson  where  he 
had  charge  of  one  of  the  field  hospitals ;  at  Shiloh  and  Corinth 
he  was  Surgeon-in-Chief  of  General  Wallace's  Division ;  he 
was  with  Sherman  in  his  raid  on  Vicksburg,  and  served  in 
all  the  battles  of  the  Red  River  campaign. 

James  Waldock  (M.  D.,  '52)  was  captured  during  the 
Louisiana  campaign  of  '63. 

Sumner  A.  Patten  (M.  D.,  '48)  was  Assistant  Surgeon  of 
the  First  Maine  Cavalry  at  the  battles  of  Cedar  Mountain 
and  the  second  Bull  Run. 

Enoch  Adams  (M.  D.,  '51)  was  Surgeon  with  the  14th 
Maine  Volunteers  at  New  Orleans,  and  in  the  Red  River  cam- 
paign. 

Others  in  the  Maine  quota  were  Henry  A.  Reynolds  (M.  D., 
'64)  in  the  First  Heavy  Artillery;  John  S.  dishing  (M.  D., 
'58)   in  the  23rd  Volunteers. 

In  the  New  Hampshire  Regiments  we  find  Daniel  Farrah 
(M.  D.,  '62)  with  the  3rd  Regiment ;  Frank  T.  Moffitt  (M.  D., 
'70)  and  Marshall  Perkins  (M.  D.,  '50)  with  the  14th  Vol- 
unteers. 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  931 

In  McClellan's  advance  on  Richmond  in  '62  we  find  many 
Harvard  men. 

Charles  M.  Chandler  (M.  D.,  '54)  was  with  the  6th  Army 
Corps  at  Williamsburg,  Chickahominy,  Savage's  Station, 
Seven  Day's  Battle,  and  second  Bull  Run.  Again  we  find 
him  with  McClellan  in  that  terrible  carnage  at  Antietam; 
with  Burnside  at  Fredericksburg;  and  with  Hancock  at  Get- 
tysburg. 

Joseph  Underwood  (M.  D.,  '47)  volunteered  as  a  private, 
and  was  sent  to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  In  the  Seven 
Days'  Battle  he  was  taken  prisoner. 

Another  physician  acting  as  a  private  in  the  Seven  Days' 
Fight  was  Rio  Delos  Barber  (M.  D.,  '66).  He  had  previously 
been  in  action  at  Yorktown,  Kinston,  N.  C,  Whitehall  and 
Goldsboro,  as  well  as  at  the  capture  of  Forts  Wagner  and 
Gregg. 

Augustus  P.  Clarke  (M.  D.,  '62)  was  taken  prisoner  at 
Savage's  Station.  He  was  present  in  some  seventy  engage- 
ments, and  left  the  service  in  '65  as  brevet  lieutenant-colonel 
U.  S.  Volunteers.     He  won  the  following  recommendation : 

"Headquarters    ist    Cav.    Div., 

"Sheridan's  Cav.  July   i,   1865. 
"  Hon.  E.  N.  Stanton, 

"  Secretary  of  War. 
"Sir:     *     *     *     *     Surg.  A.  P.  Clarke  served  on  my  Staff  as  Surgeon- 
in-Chief  of  Brigade  for  two  years,  and  in  the  closing  campaign  as  Sur- 
geon-in-Chief  of  Division. 

"  In  the  hour  of  battle  he  was  always  at  the  front,  attending  to  the  care 
and  removal  of  the  wounded  and  freely  exposed  himself  when  duty  re- 
quired. He  was  known  as  one  of  the  most  efficient  officers  of  the  Medical 
Staff  of  the  Army. 

"  (Signed)  Thomas  C.  Dkvin. 

"  Brevet  Major  General  Vols." 

Nathan  P.  Rice  (M.  D.,  '53)  went  out  as  Surgeon  to  the 
1 8th  New  York  Volunteers,  and  was  at  the  battles  of  West 
Point,    Gaines'    Mills,    Malvern    Hill,    South    Mountain    and 


932  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Fredericksburg.  From  1863  to  1865  he  served  in  various  hos- 
pitals in  Virginia,  North  Carolina  and  Maryland.  He  also 
was  promoted  brevet  lieutenant-colonel  before  the  close  of  his 
service. 

John  Homans  (M.  D.,  '62),  so  well  known  to  all  Harvard 
men  since  the  Civil  War  days,  was  at  Malvern  Hill  in  July. 
'62.  He  entered  the  navy,  which  at  that  time  was  helping 
McClellan  to  make  a  creditable  retreat  after  the  disaster  of 
the  Seven  Days'  Battle.  In  November,  1862,  Homans  entered 
the  army,  and  was  with  Banks  in  the  Red  River  expedition, 
and  with  Early  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley  campaign,  being 
Acting  Medical  Director  of  the  Army  of  the  Shenandoah. 

Robert  E.  Jameson  (M.  D.,  '61)  was  engaged  in  all  the 
battles  of  McClellan's  advance  on  Richmond,  and  in  his  hard 
fought  retreat.  He  went  into  the  Virginia  campaign  under 
Pope,  and  was  at  Vicksburg,  Jackson,  Blue  Springs,  at  the 
siege  of  Knoxville,  and  at  Petersburg. 

At  Cedar  Mountain,  Francis  Leland  (M.  D.,  '42)  was 
wounded. 

Nathaniel  G.  Stanton  (M.  D.,  '66)  went  with  the  army  to 
the  second  battle  of  Bull  Run.  Later  he  took  part  in  the 
battles  of  Chantilly,  Rappahannock  Station  and  Manassas. 

John  T.  Heard,  of  the  class  of  '59,  served  in  the  Virginia 
campaign  against  Lee's  first  invasion  of  the  North.  He  like- 
wise took  part  in  sundry  other  great  battles  of  the  war — 
Antietam,  Fredericksburg,  Chancellorsville,  and  Gettysburg, 
being  wounded  in  the  last  battle. 

David  Dana  (M.  D.,  '47)  was  Surgeon  to  the  1st  Massa- 
chusetts Heavy  Artillery,  enlisting  in  '61.  He  was  Division 
Surgeon  on  General  Whipple's  staff,  and  was  taken  prisoner 
at  Warrenton  Junction  while  attending  the  wounded  men. 
He  resigned,  October,  1862. 

Edwin  H.  Brigham  (M.  D.,  '68)  was  a  private  in  the 
service  in  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  campaigns.     He  was  in 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  933 

Bank's  expedition,  and  was  taken  prisoner  at  the  second  Bull 
Run. 

Joseph  W.  Hastings  (M.  D.,  '56)  served  from  the  battle 
of  Cedar  Mountain  to  the  Grand  Review.  He  was  present  at 
the  second  Bull  Run,  Chantilly,  South  Mountain,  Antietam, 
Fredericksburg,  Lookout  Mountain,  Chattanooga,  Knoxville, 
and  on  the  march  from  Atlanta  to  Savannah. 

Joseph  W.  Merriam  (M.  D.,  '62)  was  with  the  18th  Massa- 
chusetts Volunteers  at  the  second  Bull  Run  and  in  the  Mary- 
land campaign. 

Robert  Ware  (M.  D.,  '56)  was  killed  at  Newbern,  N.  C, 
caring  for  the  diseased  negroes  of  the  place.  His  colonel 
wrote  of  him : 

'  Among  our  losses  none  fell  more  heavily  than  when  in  Washington, 
April  11,  1863.  we  followed  to  his  grave  our  well-beloved  surgeon,  Robert 
Ware.  He  fell  a  victim  to  his  fidelity  to  duty;  not  simple  duty  dictated 
by  order,  but  the  large  heart  of  a  kind  and  devoted  christian  man.  Dis- 
ease was  making  havoc  among  the  negroes  of  the  town ;  and  Ware,  ever 
thoughtful,  ever  alive  to  the  dictates  of  his  sensitive  conscience,  hastened 
to  their  relief,  and  spent  many  hours  watching  by  them,  and  ministering 
to  their  wants,  until  worn  and  weary,  he  fell  a  victim  to  the  very  disease 
from  which  he  had  rescued  so  many  of  those  helpless  and  dependent 
people;  dying  on  the  ioth  of  April  1863.  He  will  ever  live  in  their  hearts 
and  memories  as  in  ours,  and  may  we  remember  his  example !  " 

Barber  B.  Kent  (M.  D.,  '69)  was  a  private  in  Ware's  regi- 
ment, and  rose  to  captain  in  the  60th  Massachusetts.  George 
H.  Powers  (M.  D.,  '65)  was  Assistant  Surgeon  in  this  regi- 
ment in  1864. 

Rufino  A.  Olloqui  (M.  D.,  '65)  was  appointed  to  the  6is1 
Massachusetts  Volunteers. 

Ebenezer  F.  Spaulding  (M.  D.,  '66)  was  an  Assistant  Sur- 
geon in  the  7th  Wisconsin  Volunteers  at  that  brilliant  exploit 
of  General  Jackson  at  Manassas  Junction,  August  28-30, 
1862.  He  likewise  served  with  his  regiment  at  Rappahannock 
Station,  Gaines'  Mill,  second  Bull  Run,  South  Mountain,  An- 


934:  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

tietam,  Chancellorsville,  Brandy  Station,  Fredericksburg  and 
Gettysburg. 

In  McClellan's  attempt  to  retrieve  the  losses  sustained  by 
Pope  at  Manassas,  the  war  was  carried  into  Maryland,  result- 
ing in  the  bloody  carnage  in  the  cornfield  at  Antietam.  With 
an  aggregate  Union  force  of  87,000  men  (Lee  had  40,000), 
and  a  total  Union  loss  of  12,400,  it  is  natural  to  find  many 
alumni  of  our  School  on  the  roster. 

We  see  Samuel  F.  Haven  (M.  D.,  '55),  who  gave  his  life 
three  months  later  at  Fredericksburg. 

Patrick  A.  O'Connell  (M.  D.,  '6o),  who  had  seen  hard 
service  with  the  28th  Massachusetts  at  James  Island,  South 
Carolina,  at  the  second  Bull  Run,  and  at  Fredericksburg  and 
Gettysburg. 

Josiah  N.  Willard  (M.  D.,  '60)  who  had  joined  in  the 
chase  of  Jackson  through  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  in  March, 
1862,  and  had  been  present  at  the  siege  of  Yorktown,  and  on 
the  march  to  the  Chickahominy.  His  battles  include  all  those 
incident  to  the  '62  advance  on  Richmond,  and  the  resistance 
to  Lee's  invasion  of  the  North,  with  his  subsequent  retreat. 
Willard  was  in  the  battles  of  Spottsylvania,  Hanover  Court 
House,  Cold  Harbor  and  Petersburg. 

George  E.  Francis  (M.  D.,  '63)  had  been  in  Pope's  re- 
treat. In  '63  he  entered  the  navy  and  took  part  in  the  Red 
River  campaign. 

Francis  M.  Lincoln  (M.  D.,  '54)  who  was  in  the  Seven 
Days'  Battle,  and  at  Sharp's  Mountain,  and  later  at  Fred- 
ericksburg, Richmond  and  Petersburg. 

Arthur  H.  Cowdrey  (M.  D.,  '57)  was  made  Surgeon  after 
the  battle  of  Antietam,  and  as  such  was  at  Fredericksburg, 
Gettysburg  and  Petersburg. 

George  N.  Munsell  (M.  D.,  '60)  had  been  at  South  Moun- 
tain, and  was  also  at  Fredericksburg. 

James  F.   Sullivan    (M.   D.,   '61)    went  out   with   the  9th 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  935 

Massachusetts  Volunteers,  and  was  at  Fredericksburg,  Chan- 
cellorsville,  the  Wilderness  and  Spottsylvania. 

James  Oliver  (M.  D.,  '62)  was  taken  prisoner  at  the  second 
Bull  Run ;  we  find  him  present  at  the  battles  of  South  Moun- 
tain and  Antietam ;  at  Knoxville  he  shared  the  trials  and  hard- 
ships of  the  2 1  st  Massachusetts  Volunteers,  and  with  them 
went  into  the  Wilderness;  was  at  Spottsylvania,  Bethesda 
Church,  Cold  Harbor,  and  the  siege  of  Petersburg.  Reenlist- 
ing  with  the  "  Old  Sixth,"  he  took  part  in  the  siege  of  Rich- 
mond. 

Albert  Wood  received  his  M.  D.  in  '62,  and  lost  no  time  in 
reaching  the  field.  He  was  at  the  second  Bull  Run,  Antietam 
and  Fredericksburg.  Later,  as  Surgeon  in  the  1st  Massa- 
chusetts Cavalry,  he  was  at  the  surrender  of  Vicksburg,  in 
the  Wilderness,  Cold  Harbor  and  Petersburg. 

Lucius  Manlius  Sargent  (M.  D.,  '57)  and  Lincoln  R. 
Stone  (M.  D.,  '54)  went  out  together  as  Surgeon  and  Assist- 
ant Surgeon,  2nd  Massachusetts  Volunteers.  Sargent  re- 
signed and  was  appointed  captain  in  the  1st  Massachusetts 
Cavalry,  and  went  with  his  command  with  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac.  His  battles  include  Antietam,  Kelley's  Ford,  South 
Mountain,  Fredericksburg,  Chancellorsvile,  Brandy  Station, 
and  Culpeper,  Va.  He  was  killed  December  9th,  1864,  near 
Bellfield,  Va.  Stone  was  taken  prisoner  at  Winchester,  Va., 
in  May,  '62,  rejoining  his  regiment,  however,  in  time  for  the 
summer  campaign.  After  his  service  at  the  assault  on  Fort 
Wagner  he  was  appointed  Assistant  Surgeon  in  the  U.  S. 
Volunteers,  and  was  brevetted  lieutenant-colonel  just  before 
muster-out  in  '65. 

Among  the  severely  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Antietam 
was  Phelon  C.  Whidden  (M.  D.,  '66).  Discharged  Decem- 
ber nth,  '63,  he  enlisted  in  the  navy,  December  16,  and  served 
in  the  blockading  movements  of  '64  and  '65.  Marshall  E. 
Simmons  (M.  D.,  '60)  was  with  the  22nd  New  York  Volun- 


936  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

teers  in  all  the  great  battles  of  his  command  from  Antietam 
to  Gettysburg  inclusive. 

George  E.  Head  (M.  D.,  '55)  joined  the  nth  Infantry, 
United  States  Army,  with  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  Feb- 
ruary, '62.  Later  he  was  at  Fredericksburg,  Gettysburg, 
Mine  Run,  Rappahannock  Station,  Wilderness,  Spottsylvania, 
Bethesda  Church  and  Petersburg. 

When  Lee  blocked  the  path  of  Burnside  at  Fredericksburg 
(Dec,  1 1  -14,  1862)  a  sacrifice  of  over  twelve  thousand  Union 
men  resulted.  Besides  those  Harvard  medical  graduates  pre- 
viously mentioned  as  taking  part  in  this  battle  there  were 
present  Henry  P.  Bowditch  (M.  D.,  '68),  our  present  Pro- 
fessor of  Physiology,  who  entered  the  service  as  second  lieu- 
tenant, 1st  Massachusetts  Cavalry.  Previous  to  Fredericks- 
burg he  saw  service  at  Secessionville.  As  captain  he  was  in 
the  battles  of  Stevensburg,  Aldie,  Upperville,  Culpeper,  Rapi- 
dan  Station,  Bristoe  Station  and  New  Hope  Church.  He  was 
wounded  in  this  last  named  battle.  With  the  5th  Massa- 
chusetts he  was  at  Petersburg,  Baylor's  Farm,  Point  Lookout 
and  on  the  James  River,  and  was  among  the  first  Union  forces 
to  enter  Richmond.  He  left  the  service  two  months  later  as 
major. 

Another  instructor  of  the  Medical  School  present  at  Fred- 
ericksburg was  Edward  B.  Dalton,  who  took  his  M.  D.  degree 
at  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  (New  York)  in 
1858,  three  years  after  he  had  been  graduated  at  Harvard 
College.  During  the  Peninsula,  Maryland  and  Virginia  cam- 
paigns of  '6 1 -'62,  Dalton  served  with  the  36th  New  York 
Volunteers.  Afterwards  he  was  Medical  Inspector  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  in  all  its  movements  under  Grant  during 
"64-'65.  He  was  promoted  brevet  colonel  United  States  Vol- 
unteers in  1865. 

Allston  W.  Whitney  (M.  D.,  '52)  enlisted  as  a  private  in 
the  2nd  Massachusetts  on  receipt  of  the  news  of  the  attack 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  937 

upon  the  6th  Regiment  at  Baltimore.  Two  days  later  he 
was  appointed  Surgeon  in  the  13th  Massachusetts  Volunteers. 
To  follow  this  regiment  through  the  war  would  be  to  visit 
every  important  battlefield  and  skirmish  line  from  Cedar 
Mountain  to  Petersburg.  Whitney  was  with  the  colors  all 
the  time,  excepting  six  months  he  spent  in  Libby  Prison.  He 
was  made  brevet  lieutenant-colonel  in  1865. 

Charles  F.  Crehore  (M.  D.,  '59)  was  in  all  the  battles  of 
the  Peninsula  campaign  in  Virginia  leading  up  to  Fredericks- 
burg. After  participating  in  that  failure  of  Burnside  he 
fought  at  Cedar  Creek,  and  was  present  with  the  6th  Army 
Corps  at  Gettysburg  and  the  preliminary  engagements,  being 
in  charge  of  the  Ambulance  Hospital  in  the  Shenandoah 
campaign. 

John  Ryan  (M.  D.,  '60)  was  with  the  9th  Massachusetts 
at  Fredericksburg,  Chancellorsville,  Brandy  Station,  Gettys- 
burg, Bristoe,  Rappahannock  Station,  Wilderness,  Spottsyl- 
vania,  Bethesda  Church  and  Cold  Harbor. 

William  L.  Faxon  (M.  D.,  '62)  was  at  Fredericksburg  and 
later  at  Chancellorsvile,  Gettysburg  and  the  Wilderness,  being 
taken  prisoner  during  the  Wilderness  battle  of  May  5,  '64. 

Charles  M.  Kitterdge  (M.  D.,  '67)  was  one  of  the  wounded 
at  Fredericksburg,  where  his  classmate 

Edwin  Rufus  Lewis  (M.  D.)  was  sergeant-major  of  21st 
Massachusetts  Volunteers.  Lewis  continued  into  the  Wilder- 
ness, and  was  also  in  the  Spottsylvania,  Cold  Harbor  and 
Petersburg  battles.  He  was  among  the  wounded  at  Peters- 
burg.    He  was  also  at  Knoxville,  Tenn. 

Royal  L.  Cleaves  (M.  D.,  '69)  received  his  preliminary 
medical  training  as  Hospital  Steward  in  the  Army.  That  he 
had  an  opportunity  for  practical  observation  is  attested  by 
the  fact  that  he  was  present  at  Fredericksburg,  Chancellors- 
ville. Gettysburg,  the  Wilderness,  Spottsylvania,  Petersburg;, 
and  Five  Forks. 


938  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Robert  A.  Blood  (M.  D.,  '70)  was  a  private  in  the  nth  New 
Hampshire  Volunteers,  and  experienced  the  shortcomings  of 
hospital  service  on  the  battlefield  of  Fredericksburg,  where 
he  was  wounded. 

Samuel  C.  Whittier  (M.  D.,  '62)  was  at  Fredericksburg, 
Chancellorsville,  Gettysburg  and  Petersburg,  being  in  charge 
of  the  Division  Hospital  in  many  of  the  battles. 

Jerome  E.  Roberts  (M.  D.,  '64)  joined  the  56th  Massachu- 
setts in  the  Wilderness,  and  was  in  seventeen  battles  prior  to  a 
disablement,  from  which  he  died  February  19th,  1865. 

Benjamin  H.  Mann  (M.  D.,  '67)  was  with  the  24th  Massa- 
chusetts Volunteers  as  Hospital  Steward  in  all  their  battles 
except  Newbern  and  Morris  Island. 

Other  Harvard  men  actively  engaged  in  the  Virginia  and 
South  Carolina  Campaigns  were  John  L.  Robinson  (M.  D., 
'59);  Hosea  M.  Quinby  (M.  D.,  '68);  Charles  E.  Hosmer 
(M.  D.,  '67)  ;  Edward  B.  Mason  (M.  D./61).  Mason  joined 
the  1  st  Massachusetts  Heavy  Artillery  on  the  Potomac,  and 
was  taken  prisoner  at  the  second  Bull  Run.  His  death  on 
September  14,  1863,  was  due  to  an  injury  by  the  fall  of  his 
horse  while  he  was  on  duty  at  Maryland  Heights ;  and  Nathan 
Hay  ward  (M.  D..  '55),  who  was  taken  prisoner  at  Sharps- 
burg,  Maryland,  while  caring  for  his  fellow  alumnus  Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Palfrey  (H.  U.,  '51).  Hayward  left  the  service 
brevet  colonel. 

Norton  Folsom  (M.  D.,  '64)  was  in  the  battle  of  Cross 
Keys,  and  in  '64  at  Newmarket  Heights.  His  reward  was  a 
brevet  lieutenant-colonelcy. 

Joshua  J.  Ellis  (M.  D.,  '52)  died  on  the  17th  March,  1863, 
from  the  severity  of  the  Virginia  campaign. 

Other  Alumni  of  the  Harvard  Medical  School  who  saw 
service  in  those  battles  of  the  first  year  or  two  of  the  war  were 
Warren  Pierce  (M.  D.,  '69)  who  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  939 

i st  Massachusetts  Heavy  Artillery,  and  later  was  second 
lieutenant  in  the  36th  United  States  Cavalry. 

Edward  R.  Cutler  (M.  D.,  '63),  who  served  with  the  1st 
Massachusetts  Heavy  Artillery  from  September  25,  1863,  to 
the  end  of  the  war. 

William  P.  Jones  (M.  D.,  71),  who  was  with  Cook's  Light 
Battery  from  April  19th,  '61,  to  August  2,  1861. 

Marcus  A.  Moore  (M.  D.,  '47),  who  went  out  October  31st, 
'61,  captain  in  1st  Massachusetts  Cavalry. 

Edward  B.  Holt  (M.  D.,  '68),  who  served  in  the  ranks  of 
the  6th  Massachusetts  from  August  31,  '62,  to  October  27th, 
1864. 

James  G.  Maxfield  (M.  D.,  '67),  who  was  sergeant  in  the 
6th  Massachusetts  during  '62  and  '63,  after  which  he  served 
in  the  navy. 

William  H.  Ruddick  (M.  D.,  '68)  was  with  the  7th  Mas- 
sachusetts Battery  and  in  1863  was  appointed  Hospital  Stew- 
ard. He  saw  active  service  at  Deserted  House,  Va. ;  Somer- 
ton  Road ;  Siege  of  Suffolk ;  in  the  Red  River  campaign ;  Ala- 
bama campaign  and  the  capture  of  Mobile. 

John  W.  Foye  (M.  D.,  '60)  rose  from  Assistant  Surgeon 
of  nth  Massachusetts,  June  13,  1861,  to  brevet  lieutenant- 
colonel  United  States  Volunteers,  March  13,  1865. 

The  1 2th  Massachusetts  Volunteers  saw  hard  service. 
John  M.  Hay  ward  (M.  D.,  '58)  was  with  them  from  1861  to 
1863,  and  William  H.  W.  Hinds  (M.  D.,  '61)  was  Surgeon 
from  '63  to  '64. 

The  same  story  is  true  of  the  15th  and  19th  Massachusetts 
Volunteers.  The  former  had  as  Assistant  Surgeon  Henry 
Rockwood  (M.  D.,  '55),  and  Samuel  C.  Blake  (M.  D., 
'53)  as  Surgeon;  while  the  19th  had  Gustavus  P.  Pratt 
(M.  D.,  '63y 

Frederick  S.  Ainsworth  (M.  D.,  '44)  went  as  Surgeon  in 
the  22nd  Massachusetts  on  June  25,    1862,  and  resigned  July 


940  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

27,  1865,  as  brevet  lieutenant-colonel  United  States  Volun- 
teers.    A  long  active  service  faithfully  performed. 

Thomas  Conant  (M.  D.,  '68)  was  second  lieutenant  in  the 
29th  Massachusetts  Volunteer  Militia  from  Fredericksburg  to 
Spottsylvania. 

Rowse  R.  Clarke  (M.  D.,  '47)  was  with  the  34th  Massa- 
chusetts Regiment  in  the  battles  of  Winchester,  Cedar  Creek 
and  Petersburg,  with  all  the  intermediate  engagements. 

Albert  H.  Bryant  (M.  D.,  '60)  joined  the  36th  Massachu- 
setts Regiment  in  August,  1862,  and  was  with  it  at  Freder- 
icksburg, Vicksbnrg,  siege  of  Knoxville,  the  Wilderness,  and 
Spottsylvania.  He  shared  the  cold,  hunger  and  want  ex- 
perienced at  Knoxville  in  December  and  January  of  the  win- 
ter of  '64. 

John  A.  Mead  (M.  D.,  '69)  was  a  private  in  the  39th  Mas- 
sachusetts Volunteers  from  August  27,  1862,  to  June  2,  1865, 
which  means  that  he  was  a  participant  in  the  Wilderness, 
Spottsylvania,  Bethesda  Church,  Petersburg,  and  Five  Forks 
battles. 

Daniel  McPhee  (M.  D.,  '63)  served  as  Assistant  Surgeon 
in  the  44th  Massachusetts  after  the  death  of  its  Surgeon, 
Robert  Ware. 

Daniel  McLean  (M.  D.,  '63)  served  four  months  as  Assist- 
ant Surgeon  of  the  45th  Massachusetts  Volunteer  Militia  upon 
graduating  from  the  Medical  School. 

Joseph  B.  Reynolds  (M.  D.,  '62)  joined  the  49th  Massa- 
chusetts in  time  to  be  present  at  the  surrender  of  Port  Hudson 
and  he  remained  in  the  service  until  April,  1864. 

Lucius  F.  C.  Garvin  (M.  D.,  '67)  and  Francis  W.  Adams 
(M.  D.,  '68)  were  private  and  first  lieutenant  respectively  in 
the  51st  Massachusetts  Volunteer  Militia  in  1862-63. 

Following  the  war  in  the  centre  we  may  trace  Harvard  men 
fighting  Bragg  in  the  terrible  slaughter  at  Stone  River,  and 
in  his  hard  won  victory  at  the  "  Rock  of  Chickamauga." 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  941 

Here  died  William  H.  Heath  (M.  D.,  '53).  Flushed  with 
victory,  Bragg  pushed  on  until  firmly  entrenched  on  Lookout 
Mountain.  In  that  famous  "  Battle  Above  the  Clouds  "  one 
follows  our  men  scaling  the  heights  of  Missionary  Ridge  with 
"  Fighting  Joe  Hooker  "  until  they  had  planted  the  stars  and 
stripes  upon  the  highest  peak ;  where  they  joined  with  their 
fellow  alumni,  who  had  followed  Grant,  Thomas,  Sherman 
and  Sheridan,  in  restoring  Chattanooga  to  its  permanent 
guardians.  Longstreet,  alarmed  at  the  fierceness  of  the  Union 
fighting,  released  his  hold  on  Burnside  at  Knoxville,  and  thus 
set  free  those  famine-stricken  Union  soldiers.  Leaving  the 
army  under  Sherman  to  enjoy  a  respite  at  Chattanooga  pre- 
paratory to  the  March  to  the  Sea,  let  us  note  those  important 
engagements  in  which  many  Harvard  men  figured  along  the 
Mississippi  and  in  Virginia. 

In  the  early  scenes  at  Forts  Henry  and  Donelson  we  find 
the  genial  young  Surgeon  William  B.  Gibson  (M.  D.,  '62), 
who  left  his  position  as  House  Surgeon  at  the  Massachusetts 
General  Hospital  upon  the  call  for  surgeons  in  the  navy.  He 
was  on  board  the  Flag-Ship  "Hartford'  with  Foote;  and 
later  on  the  "  Sciota  "  at  the  siege  of  Vicksburg.  Stricken 
with  fever  while  on  duty  at  Pensacola,  he  died,  November  8, 
1862. 

George  J.  Arnold  (M.  D.,  '6i)  was  in  the  battle  of  Iuka, 
and  later  at  Corinth. 

Jenckes  H.  Otis  (M.  D.,  '51),  who  had  left  College  in  1847 
"  to  fit  "  for  medical  service  in  the  navy,  was  assigned  to  the 
receiving  ship  "  Ohio  "  at  Boston,  on  the  outbreak  of  the  war. 

George  T.  Shipley  and  Charles  T.  Hubbard  of  the  class  of 
1 86 1  at  the  Medical  School,  entered  the  navy  upon  their  grad- 
uation; both  served  during  the  greater  part  of  the  war. 

Among  those  who  subsequently  received  their  M.  D.  de- 
grees from  Harvard,  the  following  were  Acting  Assistant  Sur- 
geons  in   the  navy  during  the  first   year  or  so  of   the   war. 


942  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Arthur  Kemble  (M.  D.,  '63),  Henry  Johnson  (M.  D.,  '65) 
William  H.  Campbell  (M.  D.,  '65),  Henry  L.  Dearing  (M.  D., 
'64),  who  had  two  years'  experience  as  Hospital  Steward  with 
the  15th  Massachusetts  Volunteers;  Joseph  Franklin  Perry 
(M.  D.,  '73),  and  Winthrop  Butler  (M.  D.,  "66). 

In  Pope's  brilliant  coup,  at  the  attack  on  Memphis,  at 
Corinth  and  at  Shiloh,  we  have  already  noted  some  of  the 
Harvard  graduates  present.  When  Farragut  took  possession 
of  New  Orleans,  Palmer  C.  Cole  (M.  D.,  '58)  was  placed  in 
full  charge  of  the  Quarantine  Station,  and  was  made  Chief 
Surgeon  of  the  Division.  He  also  served  later  in  the  Red 
River  campaign. 

Richard  J.  P.  Goodwin  (M.  D.,  '65)  was  with  Grant's 
Army  in  the  operations  before  Vicksburg. 

Two  other  graduates  in  that  affair  at  Vicksburg  were  John 
E.  Sanborn  (M.  D.,  '50),  who  was  with  Sherman,  and  George 
W.  Handy  (M.  D.,  '68)  who  went  with  Grant  on  that  remark- 
able five  days  march  from  Milliken's  Bend  to  Vicksburg,  via 
Port  Gibson,  Jackson  and  Black  River  Bridge.  Later  he 
fought  at  Petersburg,  Winchester  and  Fisher's  Hill,  where  he 
was  wounded  in  the  thigh. 

Frank  W.  Draper  (M.  D.,  '69)  until  recently  Professor  of 
Legal  Medicine  at  the  Medical  School,  as  a  private  in  the 
35th  Massachusetts  Volunteers,  was  with  Grant  on  this  same 
march.  He  was  afterwards  captain  of  the  35th  United  States 
C.  T.  in  the  Wilderness,  at  Petersburg,  and  was  present  at 
the  surrender  of  Johnston. 

Eugene  P.  Robbins  (M.  D.,  '63)  was  on  the  U.  S.  S. 
"  Choctaw  "  at  the  Vicksburg  siege,  where  he  contracted  sick- 
ness which  caused  his  death,  27th  November,  1863. 

George  O.  Allen  (M.  D.,  '66)  entered  as  a  Medical  Cadet, 
and  was  at  Vicksburg  from  the  Memphis  expedition. 

At  Baton  Rouge,  on  August  5th,  '62,  we  find  Cyrus  S. 
Mann    (M.   D.,  '43);  John  H.  McCollom    (M.   D.,   '69)   at 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  943 

present  Assistant  Professor  of  Contagious  Diseases,  Harvard. 
McCollom  also  served  as  Hospital  Steward  at  Vicksburg,  in 
the  Shenandoah  Valley,  in  the  Wilderness  and  at  Cedar  Creek. 

At  the  taking  of  the  last  obstruction  to  the  opening  of  the 
Mississippi  (Port  Hudson,  May  27,  1863)  Frederick  Winsor 
(M.  D.,  '55)  had  come  over  from  Baton  Rouge  with  General 
Augur. 

Robert  T.  Edes  (M.  D.,  '61),  who  was  Professor  of  Ma- 
teria Medica  and  Professor  of  Clinical  Medicine  at  the  School 
for  many  years  after  the  war,  served  in  the  navy  in  the  various 
bombardments  we  are  now  considering. 

Charles  W.  Heaton  (M.  D.,  '67)  was  captain  in  the  3rd 
Corps  D'Afrique  at  Port  Hudson  and  in  the  Red  River  ex- 
pedition. 

Nathaniel  A.  Fisher  (M.  D.,  '34)  was  in  the  same  actions. 

Albert  H.  Blanchard  (M.  D.,  '51)  remained  at  Port  Hud- 
son for  three  months  after  its  taking. 

Edward  L.  Sturtevant  (M.  D.,  '66)  had  risen  from  private 
to  captain  in  the  24th  Maine  Volunteers  before  serving  at 
Port  Hudson. 

Frederic  A.  Sawyer  (M.  D.,  '56)  was  taken  prisoner  at 
Port  Hudson  while  in  charge  of  the  hospital.  He  had  charge 
of  the  hospital  at  Baton  Rouge  earlier  in  the  campaign. 

Thomas  B.  Hitchcock  (M.  D.,  '6o)  was  in  the  attack  on 
Port  Hudson,  and  afterwards  Assistant  Medical  Director  of 
the  Department  of  the  Gulf  at  headquarters.  After  the  war 
Hitchcock  became  Professor  of  Dental  Pathology  and  Thera- 
peutics at  the  Medical  School. 

William  L.  Bond  (M.  D.,  '62)  was  placed  in  charge  of  the 
General  Hospital  at  Alexandria,  Louisiana,  after  the  siege 
of  Port  Hudson. 

Charles  G.  Allen  (M.  D.,  '64)  was  a  private  at  tin's  si<    1 
and  later  was  Hospital  Steward  at  Harrisburg  while  a  pris- 
oner.    Here  he  had  charge  of  the  Union  soldiers  who  fell  into 


944  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

the  enemy's  hands  at  New  Market,  in  Early's  invasion  of 
Pennsylvania.  In  various  battles  about  Petersburg  incident 
to  Lee's  retreat,  Allen  won  promotion  to  Assistant  Surgeon 
in  the  34th  Massachusetts  Volunteers.  He  was  also  one  of 
those  who  experienced  the  trials  of  Libby  Prison. 

Walter  M.  Jackson  (M.  D.,  '68)  was  adjutant  in  the  2nd 
Rhode  Island  Cavalry  at  the  Port  Hudson  siege. 

Azel  Ames  (M.  D.,  '71)  was  a  Medical  Cadet  here,  and 
adjutant  later. 

Reed  B.  Granger  (M.  D.,  '66)  arrived  in  time  for  the 
capture  of  Baton  Rouge  and  served  later  at  Port  Hudson. 
He  was  brigade  ordnance  officer  on  General  Dudley's  staff  in 
the  Red  River  expedition,  and  was  on  the  staffs  of  Major  Gen- 
rals  Gordon,  Granger,  Hancock,  and  Torbert. 

Samuel  A.  Davis  (M.  D.,  '62)  took  part  in  the  battles  of 
Donaldsonvile,  Winchester,  Fisher's  Hill  and  Cedar  Creek, 
after  he  had  served  at  Port  Hudson. 

Horace  D.  Train  (M.  D.,  '46)  was  a  captain  in  the  49th 
Massachusetts  Volunteers  in  the  Louisiana  campaign. 

Some  of  the  Harvard  Medical  Alumni  serving  with  the 
Rhode  Island  Cavalry  in  this  campaign  were  David  B.  Nelson 
(M.  D.,  '49),  Major  of  the  2nd  Cavalry, 

William  A.  Gaylord  (M.  D.,  '48),  7th  Cavalry,  later  with 
the  14th  United  States  Colored  Volunteers,  and 

Albert  O.  Robbins  (M.  D.,  '66),  who  had  two  years'  ex- 
perience as  Hospital  Attendant  prior  to  his  appointment, 
November  22,  '63,  as  Assistant  Surgeon  to  the  2nd  Rhode 
Island  Volunteers. 

Alexander  M.  Parker  (M.  D.,  '56)  was  in  Libby  Prison 
for  four  months.     His  regiment  was  the  1st  Maine  Cavalry. 

Hooker,  attempting  to  advance  on  Richmond  after  Lee  had 
checked  him  at  Fredericksburg,  crossed  the  Rappahannock 
and  Rapidan  rivers,  leaving  to  Sedgwick  the  task  of  attempt- 
ing to  deceive  Lee,  and  took  a  position  at  Chancellorsville. 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  945 

Lee  refused  the  bait,  and  prepared  his  62,000  men  for  Hooker's 
attack.  The  whole  affair  as  far  as  the  Union  troops  were 
concerned  was  as  great  a  fiasco  as  that  of  Fredericksburg. 
Stonewall  Jackson  went  around  Hooker's  right  and  completely 
surprised  the  reserves  under  Howard,  losing  his  own  life  in 
the  victory.  Lee,  encouraged  by  these  events,  started  early 
in  June  on  his  second  invasion  of  the  North.  He  made  for 
Chambersburg,  Pennsylvania.  General  Mead,  now  in  com- 
mand, gradually  closed  in,  and  the  two  forces  met  at  Gettys- 
burg (July  1,  '63).  The  Confederate  forces  were  checked  in 
that  fierce  three  days  battle,  but  the  victory  for  the  Union 
Army  was  at  a  cost  of  23,000  men.  Had  Mead  followed  up 
his  advantage  there  seems  ground  to  believe  that  the  war 
might  have  been  finished  in  that  year. 

In  previous  pages  I  have  noted  many  alumni  who  were 
present  during  these  stirring  events.  Others  present  were 
Joshua  G.  Wilbur  (M.  D.,  '62). 

John  H.  Gilman  (M.  D.,  '63)  was  with  the  6th  Corps.  He 
was  also  in  the  succeeding  battles  of  the  war,  the  Wilderness, 
Spottsylvania,  Cold  Harbor  and  Petersburg. 

Thomas  Crozier  (M.  D.,  '63)  was  with  the  3rd  Corps  Hos- 
pital as  Assistant  Surgeon,  and  accompanied  Grant  in  his 
campaign  against  Richmond  in  '64,  taking  part  in  all  the 
battles  and  skirmishes  on  the  way. 

William  D.  Knapp  (M.  D.,  '63)  was  with  the  19th  Massa- 
chusetts Volunteers  at  the  Second  Fredericksburg,  Gettysburg 
and  Bristoe  Station,  where  he  was  wounded. 

Murdock  Macgregor  (M.  D.,  '63)  was  a  Hospital  Steward 
before  receiving  his  degree  of  M.  D.  He  was  at  Chancellors- 
ville,  at  Gettysburg  as  Assistant  Surgeon  and  Surgeon,  and 
served  with  the  20th  Massachusetts  Volunteers  at  Mission 
Ridge,  and  before  Atlanta  with  Sherman. 

Edgar  Parker  (M.  D.,  '63)  was  wounded  and  taken  pris- 
oner at  Gettysburg.     He  had  previously  served  with  the  13th 


946  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Massachusetts  Volunteers  at  Fredericksburg  and  Chancellors- 
ville. 

Warren  Webster  (M.  D.,  '61)  was  with  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac;  he  was  at  Chancellorsville  and  Fredericksburg, 
being  one  of  the  wounded,  and  was  in  charge  of  Union  pris- 
oners in  the  former  battle.  Of  him  Henry  I.  Bowditch  says, 
"  No  one  did  greater  credit  to  the  School.''  He  was  made 
brevet  lieutenant-colonel  United  States  Army  in  1866. 

John  E.  Parsons  (M.  D.,  '63)  was  at  Chancellorsville  and 
Gettysburg,  and  later  entered  the  navy. 

Edward  H.  PettengilFs  (M.  D.,  '66)  nine  months'  service 
included  Gettysburg. 

Stephen  F.  Elliot  (M.  D.,  '48)  was  practicing  medicine  in 
California  on  the  outbreak  of  the  war.  He  immediately  en- 
tered the  service  under  General  Sumner  in  the  Texas  expedi- 
tion. Later  coming  east,  he  was  appointed  Brigade  Surgeon 
United  States  Volunteers  for  service  in  the  South.  Besides 
James  Island  and  Light  House  Inlet,  he  served  at  Fredericks- 
burg, White  House  and  City  Point.  He  was  the  first  to  plant 
the  U.  S.  flag  on  Morris  Island  at  its  taking.  The  colonel  of 
the  115th  New  York  Infantry  says  of  Elliot: 

*  *  *  my  Surgeon  and  two  Assistant  Surgeons  were  sick  in  the 
hospital  and  the  sick  report  of  my  Regiment  numbered  some  two  hundred 
men.  Surgeon  S.  F.  Elliot  left  a  comparatively  easy  position  on  General 
Strong's  Staff  and  volunteered  to  come  to  our  relief;  *  *  *  *  he 
remained  with  us  until  the  Brigade  to  which  he  was  assigned  moved  upon 
Morris   Island.     *     *  As   an   officer   I   consider  him   in    every   respect 

efficient;  as  a  Surgeon  he  had  no  equal,  and  as  a  gentleman  everything 
that  could  be  desired ;    accomplished,  true  and  noble-hearted." 

General  Seymour's  aide  writes, 

"  I  cannot  forget  the  night  of  the  18th — amid  the  confusion  that  pre- 
vailed in  consequence  of  our  repulse — the  wounded  bleeding  and  dying — 
the  retreat  when  all  that  were  unable  to  crawl  to  the  rear  seemed  to  be 
abandoned  and  left  to  their  fate — you  by  your  devotion,  calmness,  and 
bravery  rescued  many  of  those  noble  men  who  would  otherwise  have  per- 
ished.    When  we  reflect  how  dreadful  must  be  the  sufferings  and  agonies 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  947 

of  those  who  are  wounded  and  unable  to  move,  left  to  stiffen  on  the  battle- 
field, or  await  removal  to  more  convenient  places  before  receiving  the  at- 
tention so  much  needed,  then  and  only  then,  that  we  can  fully  appreciate 
the  noble  brave  man  who  imperils  his  own  life  to  ameliorate  the  sufferings, 
and  if  possible  save  his  fellowmen.  The  removal  of  Generals  Seymour  and 
Strong  from  their  perilous  position  after  they  had  been  wounded  must  be 
solely  attributed  to  you.  *  *  *  Through  your  skilful  management  and 
untiring  energy  everything  was  done  for  the  wounded  that  could  be  done 
under  the  then  existing  circumstances." 

In  the  naval  engagements  on  the  James  River  in  '63,  we 
find  Isaac  Hills  Hazelton  (M.  D.,  '61)  and  Samuel  W.  Abbott 
(M.  D.,  '62),  both  at  Fort  Wagner.  Abbott  was  present  at 
Petersburg,  and  other  movements  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
in  '64. 

Benjamin  F.  Clough  (M.  D.,  '69)  was  a  Surgeon's  Steward 
in  the  navy  in  the  Red  River  expedition. 

Benjamin  A.  Sawyer  (M.  D.,  '65)  was  with  the  Army  of 
the  James  for  three  months  in  '64.  He  had  been  Hospital 
Steward  in  the  50th  Massachusetts  Volunteers  in  '62. 

Stephen  W.  Driver  (M.  D.,  '63)  was  Surgeon  on  the 
"  Saxon,"  in  the  Butler  expedition  of  February,  '62. 

George  S.  Eddy  (M.  D.,  '66)  served  on  the  North  Atlantic 
Blockade  service  and  on  the  James  River. 

Henry  T.  Mansfield  (M.  D.,  '69)  on  the  U.  S.  S.  "  Nipsic," 
of  the  South  Atlantic  Squadron. 

Henry  O.  Marcy  (M.  D.,  '64)  was  with  the  43rd  Massa- 
chusetts Volunteers  in  the  North  Carolina  campaign  of  '63. 
He  then  joined  the  35th  United  States  C.  T.,  and  took  part 
in  the  siege  of  Charleston  and  in  the  Florida  expedition,  being 
Brigade  Surgeon  in  the  latter. 

Horace  S.  Lamson  (M.  D.,  '63)  joined  the  3rd  Rhode 
Island  Heavy  Artillery  immediately  after  graduation,  and  was 
at  the  battle  of  Morris  Island,  S.  C. 

Augustus  Remick  (M.  D.,  '68)  was  a  private  in  ;tli  Massa- 


948  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

chusetts  Battery,  and  served  until  the  capture  of  Mobile,  tak- 
ing part  in  the  Red  River  campaign. 

Burt  G.  Wilder  (M.  D.,  '66)  was  in  the  Carolina  expedi- 
tions of  '62,  and  at  the  siege  of  Charleston. 

Albert  L.  Mitchell  (M.  D.,  '63)  joined  the  37th  Massa- 
chusetts upon  graduating  from  the  Medical  School.  He  was  a 
prisoner  later  in  the  same  year. 

The  Army  of  the  Potomac  crossed  the  Rapidan  and  entered 
the  Wilderness  May  4th,  '64.  Mead  was  in  immediate  com- 
mand with  120,000  men.  Grant  was  now  Lieutenant-General 
in  command  of  all  the  Union  armies.  Sherman  was  given 
charge  of  the  Mississippi  Department.  From  this  combina- 
tion was  destined  to  result  the  final  victory  for  the  North. 
Let  us  first  follow  Sherman,  whom  we  left  at  Chattanooga. 
He  advanced  from  this  stronghold  May  6th,  '64,  with  100,000 
men,  comprising  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland  under  Thomas; 
the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  under  McPherson ;  and  the  Army 
of  the  Ohio  under  Schofield.  The  Confederate  leader  was 
Johnston.  If  we  follow  the  movements  during  the  next  four 
months  we  shall  find  the  army  fighting  its  way  at  Dalton,  at 
Resaca,  at  Dallas,  at  Kenesaw,  through  a  quagmire,  over 
swollen  streams  and  along  almost  impassable  roads,  until 
Johnston's  successor.  Hood,  was  driven  from  Atlanta.  This 
march  cost  the  North  32,000  men,  and  the  Confederacy  35,000. 
After  a  march  of  over  one  hundred  miles  to  the  rear,  to  protect 
his  base,  Sherman  began  the  famous  March  to  the  Sea.  Many 
of  our  graduates  both  on  land  and  sea  helped  to  make  possible 
Sherman's  message  to  Lincoln,  "  I  beg  to  present  you  as  a 
Christmas  gift  the  city  of  Savannah."  Pushing  on  again  in 
February,  1865,  Sherman's  course  lay  over  horrible  roads; 
now  he  was  fighting  Johnston,  now  forcing  him  onward 
through  North  Carolina,  by  Goldsboro,  up  to  the  gates  of 
Raleigh,  where  Johnston  surrendered,  April  26,  1865.  To 
mention  the  many  Harvard  men  taking  part  in  this  long  march 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  949 

of  almost  twelve  months,  would  be  a  repetition  of  many  names 
already  given.  A  few  new  names  can  however  be  inserted 
here,  for  they  deserve  our  recognition. 

George  F.  French  (M.  D.,  '62),  who  had  been  personal 
staff  surgeon  to  General  Grant  at  Vicksburg,  was  Surgeon-in- 
Chief,  1  st  Division,  15th  A.  C,  throughout  the  march.  He 
was  promoted  brevet  lieutenant-colonel  United  States  Volun- 
teers in  July,  '65. 

Charles  E.  Briggs  (M.  D.,  '56),  who  had  served  since  the 
battle  of  Newbern,  was  in  charge  of  the  hospital  at  Savannah. 

Bowman  B.  Breed  (M.  D.,  '57)  was  in  the  battle  of  Nash- 
ville, and  had  charge  of  the  No.  1  Hospital. 

George  A.  Collamore  (M.  D.,  '59)  joined  Sherman  at 
Chattanooga,  was  captured  at  Atlanta,  was  Post  Surgeon  at 
Columbia,  rejoined  Sherman  at  Goldsboro,  and  was  present 
at  Johnston's  surrender. 

George  E.  Stubbs  (M.  D.,  '63)  was  at  Chattanooga  and 
Nashville,  having  charge  of  hospitals  at  both  places. 

Charles  W.  Oleson  (M.  D.,  '66)  also  had  charge  of  a  hos- 
pital at  Nashville. 

Robert  Willard  (M.  D.,  '64)  was  with  the  navy  in  the 
various  movements  to  aid  the  army  in  1863-65. 

George  A.  Bright  (M.  D.,  '60)  was  on  blockade  duty  dur- 
ing the  whole  war. 

Frederick  B.  A.  Lewis  (M.  D.,  '60)  was  similarly  occupied. 

Frederick  M.  Dearborn  (M.  D.,  '65)  was  Surgeon  in  the 
navy  from  '62. 

Ralph  C.  Huse  (M.  D.,  '66)  had  his  thigh  fractured  in  the 
second  expedition  to  Fort  Fisher. 

Algernon  S.  Nichols  (M.  D.,  '69)  was  a  private  in  17th 
Massachusetts  Volunteers,  and  took  part  in  the  battles  of 
Balchelor's  Creek  and  Kinston. 

Hermogene   S.   Balcom    (M.   D.,    '58)    was   Surgeon    in   a 


950  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Western  regiment  and  served  under  Sherman  until  the  close 
of  the  war. 

Grant  emerged  from  the  Wilderness  on  the  7th  of  May, 
1864,  and  if  we  follow  him  during  the  campaign  we  shall  wit- 
ness the  bloody  struggle  for  position  at  Spottsylvania  (May, 
'64)  between  the  two  leaders — Grant  and  Lee;  the  desperate 
race  for  Petersburg,  with  its  resulting  artillery  battle  at  Cold 
Harbor  (June  1-4,  '64)  ;  the  siege  following  the  unsuccessful 
attempt  to  dislodge  Lee;  the  persistency  with  which  Grant 
hammered  at  this  obstacle  to  his  advance  on  Richmond;  the 
horrors  of  the  fighting  on  July  29th,  1864;  and  finally  the 
grand  attack  on  Richmond,  April  2nd,  1865.  It  was  during 
this  stage  that  Sheridan  made  that  famous  ride  up  the  Shenan- 
doah and  won  the  victory  described  by  one  of  our  alumni,  an 
eye  witness  (William  H.  Thayer,  M.  D.,  '44*).  Five  Forks 
and  Sailor's  Creek  were  the  convulsions  preceding  the  death 
of  the  Confederacy  at  Appomattox  Court  House  on  the  9th  of 
April,  1865.  The  names  of  some  of  our  Alumni  on  the  "  Roll 
of  Honor  "  in  this  last  year  of  the  Civil  war  occur  many  times 
in  the  story  and  have  already  been  mentioned.  Here  are 
others : 

Alfred  A.  Stocker  (M.  D.,  '53),  who  was  with  McClellan 
in  the  Peninsula  campaign ;  he  received  a  sunstroke  at  Chan- 
tilly. 

Samuel  W.  Fletcher  (M.  D.,  '58)  was  Assistant  Surgeon 
32nd  Massachusetts  Volunteers  from  the  fight  at  Rappahan- 
nock Station  until  June  1st,  '65. 

Thomas  Dawson  (M.  D.,  '64)  was  with  Grant  from  the 
Wilderness  to  Poplar  Grove  Church.  He  was  one  of  the 
victims  of  the  mine  explosion  at  Petersburg. 

Alexis  J.  Sullivan  (M.  D.,  '68)  was  in  both  army  and  navy, 
serving  at  Bristoe  Station,  Rappahannock  Station,  Mine  Run, 


*  This  is  in  manuscript   form  at   the  College  Library,  Cambridge. 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  951 

Wilderness  to  Cold  Harbor,  and  later  in  the  Mississippi 
Squadron. 

Francis  M.  Weld  (M.  D.,  '64)  was  with  the  navy  from 
May,  '62,  to  January,  '64.  Joining  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
in  the  Wilderness,  he  accompanied  the  27th  United  States 
C.  T.  on  that  march  to  Petersburg,  taking  part  in  General 
Terry's  assault  on  Fort  Fisher  and  Wilmington. 

John  Jay  Meigs  (M.  D.,  '60)  went  to  the  front  with  the 
Sixth  Corps,  and  was  in  all  the  battles  from  Spottsylvania  to 
Petersburg.  He  was  in  the  Shenandoah  campaign  against 
Early  in  '64. 

James  G.  Porteous  (M.  D.,  '66)  was  at  South  Anna,  Suf- 
folk, Swift  Creek,  Drury's  Bluff,  Cold  Harbor,  Petersburg, 
Fair  Oaks  and  Fort  Harrison. 

John  O.  Webster  (M.  D.,  '68)  was  a  private  in  the  8th 
Maine  Volunteers,  and  took  part  in  the  early  Virginia,  South 
Carolina,  and  Florida  movements.  He  was  one  of  those 
"  bottled  up  "  at  Bermuda  Hundred  with  the  futile  Butler. 
He  was  later  at  Drury's  Bluff,  Cold  Harbor  and  Petersburg. 

Franklin  Nickerson  (M.  D.,  '63)  was  in  the  navy,  and  in 
the  same  Bermuda  Hundred  expedition. 

John  F.  Butler  (M.  D.,  54)  was  with  the  39th  Massachu- 
setts from  the  siege  of  Petersburg  to  Appomattox. 

Robert  Disbrow  (M.  D.,  '65)  was  given  a  special  examina- 
tion for  his  degree  at  Harvard  and  reached  the  army  in  time 
for  service  at  Hatcher's  Run  and  Petersburg. 

Albert  L.  Norris  (M.  D.,  '65)  was  in  the  18th  A.  C.  At 
Petersburg  he  was  in  the  field  hospital,  and  assisted  in  the 
care  of  the  victims  of  Burnside's  Mine. 

Benjamin  F.  Moulton  (M.  D.,  '67)  was  one  of  the  many 
students  of  the  School  who  loft  for  the  front  in  [863.  lie 
was  at  Point-of-Rocks  Hospital,  at  Appomattox,  and  at  Fair 
Ground  Hospital,  Petersburg. 


952  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Sanford  Hanscom  (M.  D.,  '68)  was  adjutant  in  the  fighting 
about  Petersburg,  at  Richmond  and  at  Appomattox. 

George  E.  Mecuen  (M.  D.,  '75)  was  a  private  at  Cold 
Harbor,  where  he  was  wounded. 

George  P.  Braman  (M.  D.,  '66)  was  at  Petersburg  and 
Richmond.  After  the  war  he  entered  the  regular  service  and 
was  assassinated  at  Baton  Rouge,  August  15,  1868. 

Michael  F.  Gavin  (M.  D.,  '64)  was  with  the  57th  Massa- 
chusetts Volunteers  before  Petersburg. 

Ira  S.  Smith  (M.  D.,  '69)  rose  from  private  to  captain  in 
the  United  States  C.  T.  He  was  at  Forts  Wagner  and  Sum- 
ter, as  well  as  in  the  battles  of  the  Wilderness,  at  Bermuda 
Hundred  and  Petersburg. 

Lorenzo  S.  Fox  (M.  D.,  '63)  was  in  the  battles  before  Rich- 
mond. He  received  his  commission  in  the  26th  Massachusetts 
Volunteers  five  days  after  his  graduation,  and  was  sent  to  the 
Department  of  the  Gulf,  where  he  served  two  and  one-half 
years.  He  afterwards  accepted  a  contract  appointment  to 
serve  under  Butler,  his  fellow-townsman,  and  in  the  Army  of 
the  James,  where  he  had  charge  of  the  10th  Army  Corps  Base 
Hospital. 

Another  fellow-townsman  of  Butler  in  the  medical  service 
was  Moses  Greeley  Parker  (M.  D.,  '64).  He  entered  the 
service  immediately  after  graduation  and  was  assigned  to  the 
57th  Mass.  Regiment  of  Volunteers  as  assistant  surgeon.  He 
was  transferred  to  Fortress  Monroe,  where  Butler  placed  him 
in  the  2nd  United  States  Colored  Cavalry.  He  accompanied 
his  regiment  in  the  engagements  at  Suffolk,  Drury's  Bluff, 
Point  of  Rocks,  and  at  the  sieges  of  Petersburg  and  Rich- 
mond. He  was  surgeon  in  chief  and  executive  officer  at 
Point  of  Rocks  Hospital.    His  discharge  is  dated  May  24,  '65. 

John  M.  Eaton  (M.  D.,  '56)  was  with  the  55th  United 
States  C.  T.  in  the  Department  of  the  Tennessee. 

William  H.  Thayer  (M.  D.,  '44)  was  Surgeon  to  the  14th 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  953 

New  Hampshire  Volunteers,  and  was  with  Butler  before  join- 
ing Sheridan  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley ;  he  was  in  the  battles 
of  Winchester  (Sept.  19,  '64)  and  Cedar  Creek.  He  was 
Chief  Surgeon  to  the  forces  at  Savannah  in  1865. 

Augustus  C.  Walker  (M.  D.,  '66),  who  had  been  in  the 
Department  of  the  Gulf  as  Assistant  Surgeon  133rd  New 
York  Volunteers,  joined  the  Army  of  the  Shenandoah  and 
was  at  Snicker's  Gap  and  Winchester. 

Robert  White  (M.  D.,  '67)  left  the  School  in  '64,  and  was 
in  the  battles  of  Fisher's  Hill,  Orange  and  Alexandria  Rail- 
road. 

John  Spare  (M.  D.,  '42)  was  in  the  navy  as  Assistant  Sur- 
geon, was  at  Fort  Fisher  and  in  the  various  blockading  move- 
ments of  the  Gulf  Squadron. 

John  F.  Stevenson  (M.  D.,  *6i)  was  Surgeon  to  the  29th 
Connecticut  Volunteers,  and  is  said  to  be  the  first  surgeon  who 
entered  Richmond  after  its  surrender. 

Samuel  L.  Dutton  (M.  D.,  '60)  was  on  duty  near  Rich- 
mond and  in  the  battle  of  Drury's  Bluff. 

George  Derby  (M.  D.,  '43),  who  had  served  as  surgeon- 
in  the  23rd  Massachusetts  Volunteers  since  '61,  and  had  been 
in  the  battles  of  Roanoke  Island,  Newbern,  Kinston,  Golds- 
boro  and  Whitehall,  was  at  Bermuda  Hundred  and  Drury's 
Bluff,  as  well  as  the  other  battes  of  the  expedition. 

George  S.  Osborne  (M.  D.,  '63)  had  charge  of  the  hospitals 
for  colored  refugees  at  Fort  Monroe  and  at  Hampton.  He 
joined  his  regiment  at  Chancellorsville,  and  was  present  at 
Gettysburg  and  the  succeding  battles  up  to  January.  '64. 

David  F.  Lincoln  (M.  D.,  '64)  was  on  the  U.  S.  S.  "  Mont- 
gomery "  during  the  blockade  off  Mobile  and  Wilmington. 

Edward  Wigglesworth  (M.  D.,  '65)  was  with  the  Sanitary 
Commission  in  Virginia  during  the  summer  following  his 
graduation  from  College  (1861).  During  McClellan's  Seven 
Days  battles,   Wigglesworth   was   Hospital   Steward    with   the 


954  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

45th  Massachusetts  Volunteers,  taking  part  in  the  various 
North  Carolina  battles.  He  was  a  Volunteer  Army  Surgeon, 
Army  of  Potomac,  in  '64. 

Herbert  J.  Pratt  (M.  D.,  '68)  was  with  the  Army  of  the 
James  before  Richmond. 

Rufus  P.  Lincoln  (M.  D.,  '68)  was  second  lieutenant  in 
that  famous  37th  Massachusetts  Regiment  which  saw  such 
hard  service  from  Fredericksburg,  and  the  subsequent  battles 
on  that  march  from  the  Wilderness.  He  remained  with  the 
37th  until  May,  1865.  at  which  time  he  was  colonel  of  the 
regiment. 

Another  Harvard  Alumnus  with  the  37th  Massachusetts 
was  Charles  H.  Inches  (M.  D.,  '65)  who  joined  as  Assistant 
Surgeon  in  April,  1865.  He  was  transferred  to  the  20th 
Massachusetts  in  June,  '65. 

John  G.  Perry  (M.  D.,  '63)  had  been  the  Assistant  Surgeon 
in  this  latter  regiment,  but  resigned  August  10th,  1864. 

John  B.  Garvie  (M.  D.,  '63)  was  Assistant  Surgeon  in  the 
1st  Massachusetts  Volunteers  from  August  7th,  1863;  his 
classmate 

Neil  K.  Gunn  was  Assistant  Surgeon  with  this  regiment  at 
the  time  of  his  death,  June  3,  1863. 

Samuel  H.  Durgin  (M.  D.,  '64)  and  George  G.  Tarbell 
(M.  D.,  '65)  served  as  Assistant  Surgeons  in  the  Massachu- 
setts Cavalry  in  1864  and  1865. 

James  H.  Denny  (M.  D.,  '67)  and 

George  E.  Mason  (M.  D.,  '65)  were  Assistant  Surgeons  in 
the  Massachusetts  Heavy  Artillery  during  the  period  Novem- 
ber. 1863,  to  September,  1865. 

Other  Alumni  who  served  with  Massachusetts  Regiments 
during  1864  and  '65  were  George  H.  Jones  (M.  D.,  '64), 
Assistant  Surgeon  in  the  5th. 

Frank  S.  Hillard  (M.  D.,  '74),  private  in  the  5th. 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  955 

John  W.  Parsons  (M.  D.,  '65),  Assistant  Surgeon  to  the 
24th,  and 

Charles  F.  P.  Hildreth  (M.  D.,  '61),  as  Surgeon  to  the 
40th. 

John  T.  G.  Nichols  (M.  D.,  '59), 

Charles  F.  Foster  (M.  D.,  '41)  and 

William  C.  Tracy  (M.  D.,  '66)  were  with  the  12th  Un- 
attached Massachusetts  stationed  at  Provincetown,  Massa- 
chusetts, in  1864. 

Henry  E.  Holland  (M.  D.,  '46)  was  with  the  California 
Battalion,  which  was  united  with  the  2nd  Massachusetts  Cav- 
alry, January  3,  1863;  he  served  until  November  28,  1864. 

Henry  Tuck  (M.  D.,  '67)  was  attached  to  a  Field  Hospital 
at  Appomattox. 

John  L.  Fox  (M.  D.,  '35)  entered  the  navy  in  1837  as  As- 
sistant Surgeon,  and  was  Fleet  Surgeon  with  the  Atlantic 
Blockading  Squadron  in  '64. 

Otis  E.  French  (M.  D.,  '41)  went  out  with  the  114th  Ohio 
Volunteers,  and  was  Staff  Surgeon  at  Alexandria  and  Fort 
Gaines. 

Augustus  Mason  (M.  D.,  '44)  and 

Alonzo  C.  Webber  (M.  D.,  '49)  went  out  with  the  43rd 
Massachusetts  Volunteers  as  Assistant  Surgeon  and  Surgeon 
respectively.  They  served  in  battles  of  the  North  Carolina 
expeditions. 

Floyer  G.  Kittredge  (M.  D.,  '45)  had  charge  of  the  Gen- 
eral Hospital  at  Baton  Rouge. 

Henry  A.  Martin  (M.  D..  '45)  was  with  the  2nd  Corps 
(Hancock's)  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 

Charles  H.  Crane  (M.  D.,  '47)  entered  the  army  in  '48  as 
Assistant  Surgeon,  and  served  through  the  war  in  the  De- 
partment of  the  South,  rising  to  brevet  brigadier-general  in 
'65.  Afterwards  he  was  acting  Surgeon  General  of  the  United 
States  Army,  and  in  1882  was  made  Surgeon  General. 


956  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Thomas  F.  Oakes  (M.  D.,  '52)  was  with  the  56th  Massa- 
chusetts Volunteers  as  Surgeon  in  Grant's  campaigns  of 
'64-'65. 

John  Blackmer  (M.  D.,  '54)  was  at  Fort  Fisher. 

Woodbridge  R.  Howes  (M.  D.,  '54)  was  Assistant  Sur- 
geon in  the  battles  of  the  North  Carolina  campaign  of  '63. 

Henry  W.  Browne  (M.  D.,  '56)  went  out  as  a  private  in  the 
1 6th  Massachusetts  Volunteers  in  186 1.  He  was  surgeon  in 
the  76th  United  States  C.  T. ;  in  '63  he  was  in  the  Kinsman- 
Cotton  naval  battle  before  Mobile. 

Thomas  W.  Leach  (M.  D.,  '57)  was  Surgeon  in  the  navy, 
and  present  at  the  siege  of  Mobile. 

Abiel  W.  Nelson  (M.  D.,  '61)  was  in  the  Peninsula  and 
Virginia  campaigns  of  '62  and  '63. 

Edward  A.  Whiston  (M.  D.,  '61)  served  three  years  as 
Surgeon,  taking  part  in  the  battles  from  the  seven  days'  re- 
treat to  the  end  of  the  march  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 
He  had  charge  of  the  3rd  Corps  Hospital  at  Gettysburg,  and  a 
Field  Hospital  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 

Thomas  M.  Drummond  (M.  D.,  '62)  was  Assistant  Sur- 
geon in  the  navy  at  the  capture  of  Mobile. 

Daniel  F.  Leavitt  (M.  D.,  '62)  was  with  Banks  in  the  Red 
River  Campaign,  and  with  Sheridan  in  the  Shenadoah  Valley. 

Nathan  T.  Hobart  (M.  D.,  '66)  saw  service  in  South  Caro- 
lina and  Georgia  for  a  year  or  more  before  receiving  his 
degree. 

George  H.  Larabee  (M.  D..  '64)  was  engaged  as  Assistant 
Surgeon  of  the  1st  Massachusetts  Heavy  Artillery  on  duty  in 
Virginia  when  his  degree  was  granted  him. 

The  same  is  true  of  George  B.  Peck  (M.  D.,  '63). 

Abiram  F.  Squire  (M.  D..  '67)  was  a  private  in  the  74th 
Regiment  National  Guard  of  New  York  in  the  summer  of  '63. 

James  V.  Tabor  (M.  D.,  '67)  was  at  Hatcher's  Run.  Clovcr 
Hill  and  Appomattox. 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  957 

Frederic  N.  Burgess  (M.  D.,  '65)  was  Acting  Assistant 
Surgeon  before  Richmond. 

Oliver  F.  Wadsworth  (M.  D.,  '65),  later  Professor  of 
Ophthalmology  in  the  School,  served  as  Assistant  Surgeon  in 
the  5th  Massachusetts  Cavalry  in  Virginia  in  '65,  and  subse- 
quently on  General  Weitzel's  staff  in  Texas. 

Charles  W.  F.  Hamilton  (M.  D.,  '65)  was  Surgeon  with 
the  United  States  C.  T.  Cavalry  from  February,  1865. 

Benjamin  McCluer  (M.  D.,  '52)  was  Surgeon  of  the  9th 
Iowa  Volunteers  from  '63  to  '66. 

Henry  L.  Hammond  (M.  D.,  '66)  was  in  the  battle  of 
Hatcher's  Run,  Va.,  in  '65,  acting  as  Assistant  Surgeon. 

George  A.  Munro  (M.  D.,  '66)  was  Surgeon  in  the  5th 
Rhode  Island  Regiment  and  had  charge  of  the  Medical  De- 
partment at  Three  Forks.  He  was  wounded  at  Donaldson- 
ville,  and  was  taken  prisoner. 

Franklin  B.  Kimball  (M.  D.,  '58)  was  appointed  Surgeon 
in  the  3rd  New  Hampshire  Volunteers,  April  20th,  1865. 

Thomas  T.  Graves  (M.  D.,  '71)  was  a  captain  and  A.  D.  C. 
on  the  staff  of  General  Godfrey  Weitzel  from  September, 
1864.     He  was  mustered  out  in  '67. 

In  the  navy  during  the  war  there  were  many  Harvard  Medi- 
cal Alumni.  I  have  already  mentioned  several  whose  duties 
brought  them  into  touch  with  the  army  in  sundry  important 
engagements.  There  were  others  who  spent  their  time  on 
monotonous  blockade  duty,  enlivened  by  the  occasional  chase 
of  a  suspicious  looking  craft  or  midnight  attacks  upon  block- 
ade runners. 

In  the  Gulf  Squadron  were : 

Theoron  Woolverton  (M.  D..  '61). 

Oliver  D.  Root  (M.  D.,  '54),  who  died  at  New  Orleans, 
October  30,  1863. 

Frederick  H.  R.  Phillipps  (M.  D.,  '65). 

Benjamin  F.  Pierce  (M.  D.,  '60). 


958  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Giles  M.  Pease  (M.  D.,  '63),  who  later  joined  the  54th 
Massachusetts  Volunteers  and  served  in  the  North  Carolina, 
South  Carolina  and  Florida  campaigns  of  '63  and  '64. 

David  Mack  (M.  D.,  '63). 

Anson  P.  Hooker  (M.  D.,  '55). 

Joseph  F.  Gould  (M.  D.,  '59). 

Jesse  F.  Frisbie  (M.  D.,  61),  afterwards  in  the  army. 

Frank  W.  Brigham  (M.  D.,  '65). 

John  G.  Park  (M.  D.,  '66). 

Joseph  A.  Bubier  (M.  D.,  '65),  who  in  '63  was  Fleet  Sur- 
geon on  the  Pacific  coast. 

George  H.  Bull  (M.  D.,  '67). 

John  E.  Cobb  (M.  D.,  '61). 

Charles  H.  Wheelwright  (M.  D.,  '37),  who  died  at  Pilots- 
town,  Louisiana,  on  the  30th  July,  1862. 

James  M.  Flint  (M.  D.,  '60)  served  as  Assistant  Surgeon 
and  Surgeon  during  the  war,  remaining  in  the  service  after 
the  surrender  of  Lee. 

Peter  P.  Gilmartin  (M.  D.,  '65)  had  served  fifteen  months 
(1863-64)  as  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon  in  the  navy  prior  to 
taking  his  degree  at  Harvard. 

Archibald  C.  Fowler  and  William  S.  Bowen  received  their 
M.  D.  degrees  in  1867.  Both  had  previously  served  in  the 
navy  as  surgeons,  and  Bowen  remained  in  the  service  until 

^73- 

Charles  A.  Wilson  (M.  D.,  '69)  was  a  private  in  the  25th 
Massachusetts  Volunteers  for  two  years  before  he  enlisted  as 
Surgeon's  Steward  in  the  navy,  June,  1863.  He  was  dis- 
charged June  30,  1865. 

In  the  Mississippi  Squadron  were : 

Stephen  Cushing  (M.  D.,  '66). 

Martin  L.  Gerould  (M.  I).,  '66). 

David  H.  Hayden  (M.  D.,  '63). 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  959 

Scollay  Parker  (M.  D.,  '66),  who  served  also  in  the  North 
Atlantic  Squadron  in  '64. 

Arthur  Ricketson  (M.  D.,  '60). 

John  Stearns  (M.  D.,  '60). 

Charles  E.  Stedman   (M.  D.,  '55). 

Hiram  C.  Vaughan  (M.  D.,  '64),  who  joined  the  navy  on 
receiving  his  degree;  he  had  been  a  Hospital  Steward  and 
captain  in  the  Louisiana  campaign  of  '61,  '62  and  '63. 

Thomas  Welsh  (M.  D.,  '43). 

Charles  E.  Vaughan  (M.  D.,  '63). 

John  H.  Clark  (M.  D.,  '62). 

John  Laing  Clark  (M.  D.,  '66). 

Edgar  L.  Draper  (M.  D.,  '67)  was  Medical  Cadet  in  Wash- 
ington Hospitals  from  '62  until  he  entered  the  navy,  where 
he  served  until  '65. 

With  the  Atlantic  Squadron  we  find  : 

Charles  H.  White  (M.  D.,  '62). 

Samuel  G.  Webber  (M.  D.,  '65). 

Henry  A.  Richardson  (M.  D.,  '61). 

John  Mills  Browne  (M.  D.,  '52)  was  in  action  with  the 
Confederate  "  Alabama,"  June,  1864,  having  previously 
served  on  the  "  Kearsarge." 

Charles  H.  Burbank  (M.  D.,  '59)  also  served  in  the  South 
Atlantic  Squadron. 

George  C.  Webber  (M.  D.,  '63)  was  with  Commodore  Bar- 
ney in  the  North  Atlantic  Squadron,  and  served  until  1865. 

Ira  W.  Bragg  (M.  D.,  '59)  died  at  New  Orleans  in  Octo- 
ber, 1864.  He  had  been  in  the  navy  as  Surgeon  for  more 
than  two  years. 

Edmund  H.  Stevens  (M.  D.,  '67)  had  been  a  Medical  Cadet 
with  Farragut  at  Mobile,  and  in  1865  he  was  Acting  Assistant 
Surgeon  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 

Many  teachers  of  the  Medical  School,  as  well  as  students 
and  graduates,  entered  the  service  as  surgeons  in  the  various 


960  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

hospitals  established  during-  the  war.  Some  of  these  teachers 
entered  the  fighting  corps  later  and  took  part  in  many  battles, 
while  others  honorably  fulfilled  more  peaceful  obligations  to 
their  country  and  fellowmen. 

William  E.  Townsend  (M.  D.,  '44)  was  in  charge  of  the 
United  States  Army  Hospital  established  in  the  residence  on 
Pemberton  Square,  Boston,  which  R.  M.  Mason  offered  to 
the  Government. 

At  the  Readville  (Massachusetts)  United  States  General 
Hospital  were  Francis  C.  Ropes  (M.  D.,  '60),  Merrill  B. 
Campbell  (M.  D.,  '66)  and  H.  H.  A.  Beach  (M.  D.,  '68). 

Daniel  T.  Nelson  (M.  D.,  '65)  served  at  the  Mason  Hos- 
pital under  Townsend  until  he  received  his  degree,  when  he 
joined  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  had  charge  of  the  Post 
Hospital  before  Richmond. 

Benjamin  Joy  Jeffries  (M.  D.,  '57)  was  on  duty  in  Boston 
Harbor  from  '62  to  '65. 

Joseph  W.  Cushing  (M.  D.,  '61)  and  Francis  B.  Greenough 
(M.  D.,  '66)  were  at  the  Lovell  General  Hospital,  Rhode 
Island,  from  '62  to  '65. 

Algernon  Coolidge  (M.  D.,  '53)  was  at  this  Hospital  be- 
fore going  to  the  Amory  Square  Hospital,  Washington. 

James  Wightman  (M.  D.,  '63). 

Charles  C.  Tower  (M.  D.,  '59). 

Charles  W.  Swan  (M.  D.,  '64). 

J.  Collins  Warren  (M.  D.,  '66). 

Charles  B.  Porter  (M.  D.,  '65)  were  all  at  the  Amory 
Square  Hospital,  Washington. 

William  Woods  (M.  D.,  '65)  was  Hospital  Steward  at  the 
Harwood  Hospital  in  Washington. 

The  Judiciary  Square  Hospital  in  Washington  was  a  great 
Harvard  headquarters.  Two  Harvard  teachers  were  assigned 
there  in  1862, — Calvin  Ellis  (M.  D.,  '49)  and  David  W. 
Cheever  (M.  D.,  '58). 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  961 

With  them  were  associated  Alfred  H.  Haven  (M.  D.,  '61), 
in  charge  of  the  Hospital  at  Alexandria  in  '64. 

Calvin  G.  Page  (M.  D.,  '55),  and 

Francis  H.  Brown  (M.  D.,  '61)  ;  he  was  also  at  the  head- 
quarters of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  near  Antietam. 

Charles  W.  Fillmore  (M.  D.,  '56)  was  at  the  Desmarres 
Eye  and  Ear  Infirmary  in  Washington,  and 

Lewis  G.  Lowe  (M.  D.,  64)  and 

James  F.  A.  Adams  (M.  D.,  '66)  were  Medical  Cadets  at 
the  Judiciary  Hospital ;  Adams  went  into  the  navy  in  1864. 

Others  stationed  at  Washington  Hospitals  were  Alonzo  L. 
Stickney  (M.  D.,  '62)  at  the  Douglas  Hospital,  and 

William  C.  Flowers  (M.  D.,  '61)  at  the  Lincoln  Hospital. 

In  the  Field  Hospitals  of  the  Army  in  Virginia  were 
Andrew  D.  Blanchard  (M.  D.,  '46)  at  Fort  Monroe,  and  at 
Yorktown. 

Benjamin  T.  Crooker  (M.  D.,  '61)  in  the  same  places. 

Daniel  P.  Gage  (M.  D.,  '55)  at  Fairfax  Court  House. 

Francis  A.  Howe  (M.  D.,  '54)  at  the  Wheaton  Hospital, 
Yorktown. 

William  O.  Johnson  (M.  D.,  '48)  at  Alexandria. 

Lucius  L.  Scammell  (M.  D.,  '42)  at  Arlington  Heights. 

Seth  L.  Sprague  (M.  D.,  '50)  at  Fort  Monroe  and  later  at 
Trinity  Hospital,  Washington. 

Joel  Seaverns  (M.  D.,  '54)  at  Yorktown  and  at  Fort 
Warren,  Boston  Harbor. 

Gideon  F.  Barstow  (M.  D.,  '37),  Christopher  C.  Holmes 
(M.  D.,  '40)  and  Nathaniel  A.  Robbins  (M.  D.,  '64)  were  at 
Fort  Warren,  while 

Charles  FI.  Hildreth  (M.  D.,  '51),  George  A.  Perkins 
(M.  D.,  '44)  and  John  Massey  (M.  D.,  '68)  were  at  Salem 
and  Gloucester  Forts. 

In  Georgia  James  E.  De  Wolf  (M.  D.,  '66)  and  Henry  P. 


962  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Shattuck,  of  the  same  class,  and  Edward  L.  Barteaux  (M.  D., 
'67)  were  together  at  Savannah. 

At  the  New  Orleans  Hospital,  Edwin  J.  Morgan  (M.  D., 
'66)  was  a  steward  and 

Charles  F.  Barnard  (M.  D.,  '37)  Medical  Officer  in  Charge. 
Barnard  had  a  hospital  service  again  at  the  Memphis  and 
Cumberland  Hospitals. 

Adoniran  Jndson  Wakefield  (M.  D.,  '55)  was  Hospital 
Surgeon  at  Beaufort,  S.  C. 

Alexander  S.  Mackenzie  (M.  D.,  '63)  was  at  the  Naval 
Hospital,  Pensacola. 

At  the  siege  of  Charleston  were  Arthur  A.  Holmes  and 
Cornelius  S.  Jackson ;  both  received  their  M.  D.  degrees  in 
'65,  and  were  assigned  to  the  hospitals  at  Georgetown  and  at 
Darlington,  respectively,  while 

Charles  N.  Miller  (M.  D.,  '68)  was  a  Hospital  Steward, 
and  later  at  Jacksonville  and  Tallahassee. 

Ezra  Dyer  (M.  D.,  '59)  had  charge  of  the  Ophthalmic  De- 
partment of  the  Satterlee  United  States  Hospital  in  West  Phil- 
adelphia. 

Samuel  Worcester  (M.  D.,  '68)  was  a  Medical  Cadet  at 
the  National  Hospital,  Baltimore. 

Henry  S.  Plympton  (M.  D.,  '60)  was  at  the  General  Hos- 
pital, David's  Island,  New  York.  He  died  in  Cambridge, 
Massachusetts,  September  25,  1863. 

Moses  R.  Greely  (M.  D.,  '50)  went  with  the  3rd  Minnesota 
Volunteers  in  1862  against  the  Sioux  Indians.  He  had  charge 
of  the  Hospital  at  Helena,  Arkansas,  and  at  Little  Rock.  He 
was  with  General  Shaler  until  September,  1865. 

Hugh  F.  McNary  (M.  D.,  '63)  was  in  the  Military  Hos- 
pital at  Louisville,  where  he  qualified  for  his  Harvard  degree. 
Howard  M.  Randlett   (M.  D.,  '64)   was  in  charge  of  the 
Naval  Hospital  at  Philadelphia,  and  Wallace  Bolan   (M.  D., 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  963 

'63)  was  Surgeon  to  the  National  Soldiers'  Home  at  Togns, 
Maine. 

The  following  well  known  physicians  and  surgeons  of  the 
Medical  School  acted  as  a  Board  to  examine  candidates  for 
appointments  as  Surgeons  and  Assistant  Surgeons  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts Volunteer  Regiments : 

James  Jackson  (resigned)  ;  George  Hay  ward  (died  1863)  ; 
S.  D.  Townsend ;  John  Ware  (resigned);  Samuel  G.  Howe 
(resigned);  J.  Mason  Warren;  Samuel  Cabot,  Jr.;  Richard 
M.  Hodges;  George  H.  Lyman  (resigned);  George  H.  Gay; 
William  J.  Dale;  John  C.  Dalton.  Sr.  (died  1864);  Robert 
W.  Hooper;  Samuel  L.  Abbott. 

There  are  many  graduates  of  the  School  who  are  known 
to  have  served  in  the  war,  but  information  regarding  them  is 
not  as  complete  as  that  given  in  the  previous  pages  of  this 
chapter.  I  am  obliged,  therefore,  to  place  all  such  men  in  a 
list  by  themselves.  If  it  were  possible  to  obtain  all  the  data 
concerning  them.  Harvard's  record  in  the  Civil  War  and  in  the 
War  with  Spain  would  appear  still  more  creditable.  Here 
are  the  men,  then,  whose  complete  records  we  lack;  albeit  sev- 
eral of  them  are  still  active  among  us ; 

Francis  M.  McLellan  ('43),  Surgeon  13th  New  York  Ar- 
tillery. 

Horace  Thurston  ('44),  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon,  four 
months  in  1865. 

Jabez  B.  Upham  ('47),  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon  United 
States  Army,  '62-63. 

Samuel  L.  Bigelow  C48),  Brigade  Surgeon  United  States 
Volunteers.  [862.  Died  November  1,  1862,  at  Hagerstown, 
Maryland. 

James  W.  Hartley  C52),  Surgeon  United  States  Volun- 
teers. 

William  G.  David  ('54),  Surgeon  96th  New  York  Vol- 
unteers. 


964  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

James  P.  Walker  ('56),  Assistant  Surgeon  4th  New  Hamp- 
shire Volunteers. 

Benjamin  F.  Campbell  ('57),  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon 
United  States  Army,  1862- 1865. 

Edward  A.  Crane  ('57)  served  on  the  United  States  Sani- 
tary Commission  from  1861-64. 

Stephen  Foss  ('59). 

Theodore  S.  Floyd  ('61),  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon  United 
States  Army. 

Thomas  H.  Pryor  ('62),  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon  United 
States  Army,  1863. 

William  K.  Fletcher  ('62),  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon 
United  States  Army,  1862  to  December,  1864. 

John  F.  Hurley  ('63),  Surgeon. 

Samuel  W.  Langmaid  ('64),  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon 
United  States  Army,  1864-1865. 

James  McG.  Campbell  ('64). 

John  J.  McSheehy  ('64),  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon  United 
States  Army,  1864. 

John  Dole  ('64),  Medical  Cadet,  United  States  Army, 
1862. 

William  A.  Browne  ('64),  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon 
United  States  Army. 

William  B.  Buckley  ('65),  Medical  Cadet,  United  States 
Army,  1863;  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon  United  States  Army, 

'65.' 

William  H.  Hull  ('65). 

Andrew  McLaren  ('65). 

John  T.  Cameron  ('65),  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon  United 
States  Army,  1864-65. 

Alexander  F.  Falconer  ('65),  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon 
United  States  Army,  1865. 

Frank  Lawson  ('65),  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon  United 
States  Army,  1865. 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  965 

Henry  H.  Sproat  ('65),  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon  United 
States  Army,  19th  United  States  C.  T.,  1865. 

Theodore  F.  Breck  ('66),  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon  United 
States  Army,  1865. 

Cornelius  A.  Ahearne  ('66),  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon 
United  States  Army,  1864-65. 

Calvin  Pratt  ('66),  Medical  Cadet  United  States  Army, 
1862-63. 

William  F.  Monroe  ('66),  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon 
United  States  Army. 

Charles  Mackin  ('66),  "served  through  the  war  and  later 
in  the  Indian  Wars." 

James  G.  Maxfield  ('67). 

Hugh  Doherty  ('67),  Medical  Cadet  United  States  Army. 

William  J.  Clarke  ('67),  private  in  Vermont  Brigade,  1863; 
musician  brigade  band ;  lieutenant  Signal  Corps  United  States 
Army,  1864-65. 

Charles  G.  Carleton  ('67),  Medical  Cadet  United  States 
Army,  '64-'65  ;  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon  United  States  Army, 
1865. 

Theodore  S.  Keith  ('68),  Medical  Cadet  United  States 
Army,  1862.  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon  United  States  Army, 
1866. 

Rollin  C.  Ward  ('70),  "Captain  in  the  Army  during  the 
War." 

Shirley  H.  France  ('71),  private  19th  Pennsylvania  Volun- 
teers, 1 86 1,  and  served  three  months. 

From  the  incomplete  and  meagre  records  it  is  impossible 
to  obtain  a  list  of  surgeons  who  served  in  the  Confederate 
Army.  Teachers  in  the  school  tell  me  that  there  were  many 
students  from  the  South,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  and  very 
likely  they  gave  their  services  to  the  Confederacy.  A  dili- 
gent search  into  all  possible  sources  of  information  gives  me 
but  two  names.     William  Augustus  Davis  (M.  D.,  '40),  and 


1>66  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Joseph    Clay    Habersham    (M.    D.,    '53).      I    cheerfully   add 
these  names  to  our  School's  Roll  of  Honor. 


SPANISH  WAR,  1898. 

In  the  war  with  Spain  many  Harvard  Medical  graduates 
took  prominent  parts.  It  is  impossible,  as  yet,  to  trace  all. 
Most  conspicuous  now,  perhaps,  is  Leonard  Wood  (M.  D., 
'84),  already  a  captain  and  Assistant  Surgeon  in  1898.  At 
the  outbreak  of  the  war  he  became  colonel  of  the  1st  United 
States  Volunteer  Cavalry,  "Rough  Riders,"  and  was  with  that 
body  in  its  engagements  about  Santiago. 

At  the  taking  of  the  Ladrone  Islands  and  the  fall  of  Manila 
were  Ammen  Farenholt  (M.  D.,  '93)  ;  Dudley  N.  Carpenter 
(M.  D.,  '96);  and  Chauncey  Rea  Burr  (M.  D.,  '88),  with 
Dewey's  fleet.  Farenholt  served  in  the  convoy  of  the  first 
fleet  of  transports  to  Manila. 

In  the  Santiago  campaign  was  Samuel  Q.  Robinson  (M.  D., 
'76),  who  had  reached  the  rank  of  major.  He  landed  with 
the  first  troops  before  Santiago,  and  had  charge  of  the  Field 
Hospital  of  the  5th  Army  Corps,  as  well  as  the  United  States 
Army  General  Hospital.  Robinson  was  recommended  for 
brevet  by  General  Kent,  on  account  of  coolness  in  action  in 
the  attack  of  July  1,  1898. 

Francis  T.  L.  Magurn  (M.  D.,  '95),  Major  and  Surgeon 
in  the  9th  Massachusetts  Volunteers,  was  also  at  the  taking  of 
Santiago. 

William  H.  Devine  (M.  D.,  '83)  was  Major  and  Surgeon 
in  the  9th  Massachusetts  Volunteers  and  Major  and  Surgeon 
of  United  States  Volunteers  at  Camp  Alger,  Va.,  and  Camp 
Mead,  Pennsylvania. 

Otis  H.  Marion  (M.  D.,  78)  was  Major  and  Surgeon  in 
the  6th  Massachusetts  in  the  same  Army  Corps  (2nd)  at 
Camp  Alger,  while 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  967 

Francis  P.  T.  Logan  (M.  D.,  '97)  was  with  the  8th  Massa- 
chusetts in  the  First  Division  Hospital  located  at  Chicka- 
mauga,  at  Lexington,  and  in  Cuba. 

William  Cogswell  (M.  D.,  '94)  was  Major  and  Surgeon  of 
the  8th  Massachusetts  from  May  11,  '98,  until  mustered  out 
in  '99. 

Edwin  F.  Gardner  (M.  D.,  '75),  who  had  been  a  private 
in  the  Civil  War,  entered  the  service  as  Surgeon  in  1876.  In 
the  early  part  of  the  Spanish  War  he  served  in  Arizona,  and 
later  as  Major  and  Chief  Surgeon  of  the  3rd  Division  at 
Atlanta.  He  continued  in  the  army  through  the  Philippine 
campaigns  after  the  Spanish  War. 

William  A.  Rolfe  (M.  D.,  '90)  and 

David  J.  Johnson  (M.  D.,  '97)  were  Surgeon  and  Assistant 
Surgeon  of  the  1st  Massachusetts  Heavy  Artillery  and  United 
States  Army  respectively,  both  located  at  Fort  Warren  and 
vicinity  during  the  war. 

Frank  E.  Bateman  and  Frederick  W.  Pearl  both  were  grad- 
uated in  the  class  of  1894  and  served  together  in  the  5th  Mas- 
sachusetts Volunteers.  Pearl  became  Major  and  Surgeon  be- 
fore the  close  of  the  war. 

William  E.  McPherson  (M.  D.,  '91)  entered  this  same  regi- 
ment as  Hospital  Steward,  and  was  made  Assistant  Surgeon 
after  Bateman  was  injured. 

Charles  E.  Donlan  (M.  D.,  '98)  went  out  with  the  United 
States  Hospital  Ship  soon  after  his  graduation,  and  served  in 
the  7th  Army  Corps  at  Santiago  and  Havana.  He  had  charge 
of  the  General  Operating  Hospital  at  Havana,  besides  serving 
with  the  6th  Regiment  of  Missouri  Volunteers  as  their  regi- 
mental surgeon. 

Others  attached  to  camp  hospitals  were  Rowland  R.  Rob- 
inson (M.  D.,  '88)  at  Camp  Alger  with  the  1st  Rhode  Island 
Infantry. 

Weston  P.  Chamberlain  (M.  D.,  '97)  at  the  General  Hos- 


968  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

pital,  Fortress  Monroe,  and  at  Luzon,  P.  I.  Chamberlain  was 
on  the  U.  S.  S.  "Relief,"  and  had  the  exceptional  honor  of 
receiving  a  vote  of  thanks  from  officers  and  privates  for  the 
excellent  service  in  transportation. 

Allen  Greenwood  (M.  D.,  '89)  at  Ponce,  P.  R. 

Timothy  F.  Goulding  (M.  D.,  '96)  at  Camp  Wykoff,  Fort 
Mead  and  in  Cuba. 

Henry  Alden  Shaw  (M.  D.,  '90)  at  Chickamauga  and  Key 
West. 

Lewis  M.  Walker  (M.  D.,  '91)  at  the  Josiah  Simpson  Gen- 
eral Hospital,  Fortress  Monroe. 

Timothy  Leary  (M.  D.,  '95)  was  appointed  Assistant  Sur- 
geon in  August,  '98,  and 

Fletcher  G.  Sanborn  (M.  D.,  1900)  was  a  private  in  the 
Hospital  Corps  at  Tampa,  and  at  Fort  McPherson,  Ga. 

Cornelius  J.  McGillicuddy  (M.  D.,  '96)  was  with  the  9th 
Massachusetts  at  Camp  Dewey  and  Camp  Alger. 

John  D.  Yost  (M.  D.,  '98)  was  Assistant  Surgeon  in  the 
8th  California  Infantry. 

Of  the  class  of  1896  at  the  Medical  School,  Frederic  A. 
Washburn,  Jr.,  served  on  the  "Yale,"  and  Joseph  J.  Curry 
was  at  Fort  Myer,  Va.,  where  he  was  appointed  Pathologist 
and  Bacteriologist,  an  appointment  which  proved  to  be  a  most 
important  one.  Washburn  was  the  first  American  to  enter 
Aracebo  after  the  declaration  of  war.  This  he  did  under  a 
flag  of  truce  to  visit  the  hospitals. 

Henry  A.  Webber  (M.  D.,  '96)  was  1st  Lieutenant  and 
Assistant  Surgeon  United  States  Army,  and 

Herman  L.  Chase  (M.  D.,  '87)  was  Acting  Assistant  Sur- 
geon United  States  Army,  assigned  to  the  20th  Regiment 
United  States  Infantry. 

Among  the  United  States  Volunteers  were  Charles  C.  Fos- 
ter (M.  D.,  '83),  Major  and  Surgeon  5th  Regiment,  Massa- 
chusetts Infantry. 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  969 

William  S.  Bryant  (M.  D.,  '88),  ist  Lieutenant  and  Assist- 
ant Surgeon  ist  Regiment  Massachusetts  Heavy  Artillery. 
Promoted  to  Brigade  Surgeon  United  States  Volunteers. 

George  F.  Dow  (M.  D.,  '96),  ist  Lieutenant  and  Assistant 
Surgeon  6th  Regiment  Massachusetts  Infantry,  and 

Thomas  L.  Jenkins  (M.  D.,  '90),  ist  Lieutenant  and  Assist- 
ant Surgeon  8th  Regiment  Massachusetts  Infantry. 

In  the  navy,  Harvard  Medical  representatives  were : 
Charles  N.  Barney,  M.  D.,  '95,  ensign  on  the  U.  S.  S.  "Scan- 
dia." 

Richard  F.  O'Neil  (M.  D.,  '97),  on  "Catskill,"  doing  coast 
defense  duty. 

John  F.  Urie  (M.  D.,  '88),  on  "Topeka." 

Frank  C.  Cook  (M.  D.,  '93),  on  "Wilmington." 

Richard  E.  Edes  (M.  D.,  '95),  on  "Celtic,"  and 

George  F.  Freeman  (M.  D.,  '96),  on  "Eagle,"  all  engaged 
in  blockade  duty  before  Santiago. 

Eugene  P.  Stone  (M.  D.,  '84)  was  with  the  Pacific  Squad- 
ron on  the  "Bennington,"  while 

John  W.  Baker  (M.  D.,  '81)  was  on  the  Great  Lakes  in  the 
"Michigan." 

Gardner  W.  Allen  (M.  D.,  '82)  was  Passed  Assistant  Sur- 
geon in  the  United  States  Navy  during  the  war. 

James  H.  Payne,  Jr.  (M.  D.,  '89)  was  Assistant  Surgeon 
United  States  Navy. 

In  the  foregoing  pages  are  recorded  those  only  who  arc 
alumni  of  the  School,  graduates  in  course.  There  are  many 
others,  however,  who  had  l>een  at  one  time  or  another  students 
in  the  School,  but  had  not  been  graduated.  Here  is  a  record 
of  their  service;  the  men  are  arranged  chronologically  in  an 
appendix,  according  to  the  year  in  which  they  were  connected 
with  the  School : 


970  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 


APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  XXXII. 

1830.  CALVIN  CUTTER.  Surgeon  21st  Mass.  Vols.  21  Aug.,  1861. 
Wounded  at  second  Bull  Run,  Va.,  and  Fredericksburg;  prisoner  at  Bull 
Run ;  during  most  of  his  service  Surgeon-in-Chief  9th  A.  C.  Resigned 
7  May,  1864. 

1838.  HENRY  WHEATON  RIVERS.  Asst.  Surgeon  1st  R.  I.  De- 
tached Mil.  18  April,  1861.  Surgeon  1st  R.  I.  detached  Mil.  7  June,  1861. 
Surgeon  4th  R.  I.  Vols.  27  Aug.,  1861.  Brig.  Surgeon  3d  Brig.,  Dept. 
N.  C,  8  March,  1862;  Surgeon  3d  Div.,  Dept.  N.  C,  25  July,  1862;  Med. 
Dir.  army  for  defences  of  Harper's  Ferry,  Va.,  13  Oct.,  1862 ;  Surgeon, 
Headquarters,  Dept.  of  the  Ohio,  25  March,  1863;  Med.  Inap.  3d  Div.,  9th 
A.  C,  1  July,  1863;  Surgeon-in-Chief,  Kautz's  Cav.  Div.,  1  May,  1864; 
battles  Manassas  Plain,  N.  C,  Roanoke  Island,  Newburn,  Fort  Macon, 
South  Mountain,  Md.,  Antietam,  Fredericksburg,  Va.,  Stoney  Creek, 
Reams's  Station,  Malvern  Hill,  and  Quaker  Roads.  Mustered  out  27  Aug., 
1864.    Died  at  Providence,  R.  I.,  3  Dec,  1868.  • 

1840.  ELI  WHITNEY  BLAKE.  Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  A.  4  Sept., 
1863.  On  duty  at  Post  Hosp.  for  recruits,  New  Haven,  Conn.  Resigned 
15  March,  1866.    Died  at  New  Haven,  Conn.,  19  Nov.,  1874. 

1841.  JAMES  HOLLAND.  Surgeon  1st  Mass.  Cal.  14  Sept.,  1861. 
Resigned  26  June,  1863. 

1844.  WILLIAM  COGSWELL.  Surgeon  50th  Mass.  V.  M.  16  Aug., 
1862.     Mustered  out  24  Aug.,  1863. 

1845.  SAMUEL  FRANKLIN  COUES.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  N.  25 
Feb.,  1851.  U.  S.  S.  S.  Saginaw  1861.  Surgeon  U.  S.  N.  26  April,  1861. 
U.  S.  Sloop  Hoosatonic.  Western  Gulf  Squad.,  1862;  Southern  Atlantic 
Blockading  Squad.,  1863;  U.  S.  Sloop  Saranac,  Pacific  Squad.,  1864-65; 
Naval  Hosp.  Chelsea,  Mass.,  1866-68.  Captain  and  Med.  Director  U.  S.  N. 
13  Aug.,  1876.  U.  S.  S.  Richmond,  European  Squad. ;  Navy  Yard,  Ports- 
mouth, N.  H. ;  U.  S.  S.  Colorado,  Northern  Atlantic  Squad. ;  Fleet  Surg. 
Northern  Atlantic  Squad. ;  Med.  Dir.  in  charge  U.  S.  N.  Hosp.,  New  York. 
Commander  and  Med.  Director  U.  S.  N.  3  March,  1871.  In  charge 
U.  S.  N.  Laboratory.  New  York;  Pres.  Nav.  Med.  Exam.  Board,  Phila- 
delphia; Med.  Dir.  in  charge  U.  S.  N.  Hosp.,  Chelsea,  Mass.,  1885. 

1846.  PETER  PINEO.  Vol.  Asst.  to  Surgeon  General  of  Mass.,  and 
examined  first  recruits  mustered  in  the  State.  Surgeon  9th  Mass.  Vols, 
n  June,  1861.  Brigade  Surgeon  U.  S.  Vols.  3,  Aug.,  1861.  Staff  of  Gen. 
Wadsworth,  between  Washington,  D.  C,  and  Centreville,  Va. ;  staff  of 
Gen.  King,  1862,  as  Med.  Dir.  1st  Div.  1st  A.  C. ;  advance  on  Fredericks- 
burg; Act.  Med.  Dir.  McDowell's  Corps;  battles  from  Cedar  Mountain 
to  second  Bull  Run;  Med.  Dir.   1st  A.  C. ;  battles  South  Mountain,  Md., 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  971 

and  Antietam ;  staff  Gen.  Meade ;  in  charge  Douglass  U.  S.  Gen.  Hosp., 
Washington,  D.  C,  Nov.  Lieut.  Col.  and  Med.  Insp.  U.  S.  A.  Feb.,  1863. 
Ordered  to  La.;  Med.  Insp.  Dept.  of  Gulf  on  staff  of  Gen.  Banks;  siege 
of  Port  Hudson,  La.;  returned  North  on  account  of  illness,  Sept.;  Dept. 
of  the  South  as  Med.  Insp.,  Gen.  Gilmore's  command,  Nov. ;  Med.  Insp. 
Army  of  Va.  and  N.  C,  with  headquarters  at  Norfolk,  Va.,  July,  1864, 
including  charge  of  Hosp.  of  six  thousand  beds  at  Fort  Monroe.  Re- 
signed Nov.,  1S65. 

1847.    H.  L.  BARTHOLOMEW. 

1847.  GEORGE  JEWETT.  Asst.  Surgeon  10th  Mass.  Vols.  21  Jan., 
1862.  On  duty  near  Washington,  D.  C.,  and  in  the  Peninsula;  siege  of 
Yorktown,  Va. ;  in  charge  Hosp.  transport  Arrowsmith ;  taken  prisoner 
at  battle  of  Malvern  Hill,  1  July,  1862,  while  in  charge  of  wounded; 
paroled  and  returned  with  wounded  within  Union  lines.  Surgeon  51st 
Mass.  V.  M.  30  Nov.,  1862.  Dept.  of  N.  C. ;  Post  Surgeon  Beaufort,  S.  C. 
Mustered  out  2j  July,  1863. 

1S47.  CHARLES  GILMAN  SMITH.  Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  A. 
July,  1862.  On  duty  at  Camp  Douglass  Hosp. ;  as  Act.  Surgeon  16th  Inf. 
U.  S.  A. ;  and  in  Hosp.  transport  service  on  the  Mississippi  river.  Dis- 
charged Dec,  1862. 

1847.  CHARLES  TUFTS  CHASE.  Surg.  13th  N.  Y.  Oct.  27,  1859. 
Left  with  Regt.  for  Annapolis,  Md.,  April  18,  1861,  ordered  to  Baltimore 
June  12,  remaining  until  mustered  out  Aug.  6.  In  same  Regt.  ordered 
to  Suffolk.  Va.,  May  28,  1862,  stationed  along  line  of  Dismal  Swamp 
Canal  and  railroad  from  Petersburg,  Va.,  to  Weldon,  S.  C,  under  Gen. 
McClellan,  and  afterwards  at  Fortress  Monroe;  ordered  home  Sept.  5, 
1862.    Died  at  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  8,  1864. 

1848.  ALEXANDER  REED  HOLMES.  Surgeon  3d  Mass.  V.  M.  16 
April,  1861.     Mustered  out  24  Dec,  1862. 

1848.  THOMAS  HAMMOND  TALBOT.  Lieut.  Colonel  18th  Me. 
Vols. 

1848.  JONATHAN  COOLIDGE  STONE.  Surgeon  in  War.  Died  at 
West  Farms,  N.  H.,  April  6,  1868. 

1849.  JOHN  HOWELL  MACKIE.  Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  N.  10 
May,  1861.  In  U.  S.  S.  Massachusetts,  W.  Gulf  Blockading  Squad.;  in 
many  engagements  in  Gulf  of  Mexico;  slightly  wounded  by  shell  in  en- 
gagement with  rebel  Steamer  Florida  :  Post  Surgeon,  Ship  Island,  Miss., 
while  occupied  by  naval  and  marine  forces.  Resigned  1  March,  1862. 
Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  A.  1  April,  1863.  In  charge  of  U.  S.  A.  Hosp., 
New  Bedford.  Mass.     Resigned  24  July,  1865. 

1850.  FAYETTE  CLAPP.  Surgeon  staff  of  Gen.  Fremont.  Nov.,  1861. 
Act.  Surgeon  51I1  Ohio  Baty. ;  Fremont's  camp  in  Mo.;  Regimental  Sur- 
geon, Dec,  1861  ;  ordered  to  Jefferson,  Mo. ;  Fourth  Street  Hosp.,  St. 
Louis.     Resigned  Oct.,  18G2.     Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  N.  29  Nov.,  1862. 


972  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

U.  S.  S.  Marmora,  Dec,  1862;  U.  S.  S.  Benton;  blockade  at  Vicksburg, 
Miss.     Resigned  June,  1864. 

1850.  JOSHUA  BARRETT  HOLDEN.  Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  A. 
Jan.  24,  1865.  On  duty  at  Fort  Jefferson,  Fla.,  till  April,  1867;  also  Act. 
Asst.  Surgeon  on  duty  at  Fortress  Monroe,  Va.,  Sept.  25,  1867,  to  Aug. 
1,  1869.     Died  March,  1888. 

1850.  FRANCIS  JAMES  GOULD.  Probably  in  Union  Army,  as  he 
was  Surgeon  of  a  G.  A.  R.  post ;  died  of  yellow  fever  at  Jacksonville,  Fla., 
Sept.  21,  1888.     Medical  School. 

1850.  CHARLES  CARROLL  BOMBAUGH.  A.  M.t  1855.  (M.  D. 
Jefferson  Med.  Col.,  Pa.,  1853.)  Surgeon  2d  Regt.  Philadelphia 
Brig.  19  Aug.,  1861.  Surgeon  69th  Penn.  Vols.  29  Oct.,  1861. 
Served  near  Chain  Bridge,  Va. ;  Monccacy  River,  Md. ;  at  Winchester,  Va., 
and  in  the  Peninsular  campaign ;  after  McClellan's  retreat  to  the  James 
River  taken  ill  with  typho-malarial  fever  and  sent  home  21  July,  1862. 
Resigned  2-j  Sept.,  1862.  Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  A.  On  duty  at  Mower 
Hosp.,  Chestnut  Hill,  and  at  Christian  Street  Hosp.,  Philadelphia,  Pa., 
till  4  April,  1864;  Newton  University  Hosp.,  Baltimore,  Md.  Resigned 
31  May,  1865. 

1851.  GEORGE  PIERCE  SPRAGUE,  M.  D.  Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S. 
A.    Hosp.  at  Hampton,  Va. 

1852.  SAMUEL  HUTCHINS  HURD.  Surgeon  5th  Mass.  V.  M.  1 
May,  1861.  With  Regt.  during  its  service  near  Washington,  D.  C. ;  first 
battle  Bull  Run,  Va.     Mustered  out  31  July,  1861. 

1853.  RICE  PITKIN  BOLTWOOD.  Was  in  Union  army.  After 
War  settled  in  Newbern,  N.  C,  where  died  1870. 

1854.  DANA  WARREN  HALSTORN.  M.  D.  Surgeon  U.  S.  Vols. 
Sept.  4,  1861.  Med.  Dir.  in  Gen.  Sherman's  command.  Asst.  Med.  Dir. 
in  Gen.  Grant's  command.     Resigned  Jan.  8,  1865. 

1854.  FOSTER  SWIFT.  Surgeon  8th  N.  Y.  Vols.  31  Dec,  1861.  Pris- 
oner at  Bull  Run,  Va. ;  1S61  ;  soon  paroled  and  returned  to  New  York; 
in  practice  of  medicine  at  New  York  for  several  years ;  went  to  Mentone, 
France,  for  his  health;  returned  and  settled  at  Geneva,  N.  Y.  Died  at 
Santa  Cruz,  W.  I.,  10  May,  1875. 

1854.  HORATIO  SPRAGUE  SOULE.  Asst.  Surgeon  56th  Mass. 
Vols.  30  Nov.,  1863.  Joined  Army  of  the  Potomac ;  battles  Wilderness, 
Va. ;  Spottsylvania ;  North  Anna;  Totopotomy ;  Bethesda  Church;  Cold 
Harbor;  siege  of  Petersburg;  battles  Weldon  R.  R. ;  Poplar  Spring  Church; 
Hatcher's  Run;  Petersburg.    Mustered  out  12  July,  1865. 

1854.  HENRY  PUTNAM  STEARNS.  Surgeon  1st  Conn.  Vols.  18 
April,  1861.  Battle  first  Bull  Run,  Va.  Brigade  Surgeon  U.  S.  Vols. 
Ordered  to  report  to  Gen.  Fremont  in  Mo. ;  then  to  Gen.  Grant  in  com- 
mand S.  W.  Dist.  of  Mo.;  battle  Belmont,  Mo.;  Med  Dir.  right  wing  of 
army  under  Gen.  McClernand  ;  battles  Fort   Henry,  Tenu.  ;   Fort  Donelson; 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  973 

Pittsburg  Landing;  on  sick  leave  for  forty-five  days;  on  duty  in  office  of 
Asst.  Surgeon  General  U.  S.  A.  as  Insp.  of  Hosps.  at  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  for 
some  months ;  Med.  Dir.  U.  S.  Gen.  Hosps.  northern  Div.,  Army  of  the 
Miss.,  with  headquarters  at  Paducah,  Ky. ;  engaged  in  building  Holt  Gen. 
Hosp.  at  Jeffersonville,  Ind.,  spring  of  1864;  ordered  to  Nashville,  Tenn., 
in  fall  of  1864,  as  Med.  Dir.  of  U.  S.  Gen.  Hosps.  in  and  about  Nash- 
ville, once  a  prisoner,  soon  afterward  escaped.  Bvt.  Lieut. -Col.  U.  S.  Vols. 
22  Aug.,   1865.     Resigned  25  Aug.,  1865. 

1856.  EDWARD  SWIFT  DUNSTER.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  A.  5 
Aug.,  1861.  Ordered  to  report  to  Gen.  McClellan  near  Rich  Moun- 
tain, W.  Va. ;  in  charge  of  Hosps.  for  Union  and  Confederate  troops  at 
Beverly,  organized  Hosp.  at  Grafton,  and  Petersburg,  using  for  the  first 
time  in  this  country  the  system  of  ridge  ventilation;  Med.  Insp.  for  south- 
ern half  of  the  Dept. ;  appointed  Med.  Dir.  of  Hosp.  transports,  and  had 
charge  of  transportation  of  sick  and  wounded  from  Army  of  the  Poto- 
mac, previous  to  McClellan's  move  to  the  James  River  and  those  from 
the  Seven  Days'  battles,  from  Harrison's  Landing,  Va.,  to  the  number 
of  twelve  thousand ;  in  charge  of  Turner's  Lane  Hosp.,  Philadelphia,  Pa., 
during  winter  and  spring  of  1862-63 ;  member  of  board  for  examination 
of  candidates  for  the  Med.  Dept.  of  the  U.  S.  Army;  transferred  tu 
Washington,  D.  C,  as  Asst.  to  Surgeon  General  in  spring  of  1863;  at  U. 
S.  Military  Academy,  West  Point,  N.  Y.,  17  Nov.,  1863,  22  Dec,  18O5. 
Bvt.  Captain  and  Bvt.  Major  13  March,  1865.    Resigned  1  Feb.,  1866. 

1856.  HENRY  MARTYN  SAVILLE.  Surgeon  4th  Mass.  V.  M.  16 
April,  1861.  Mustered  out  22  July,  1861.  In  practice  of  medicine  in  Bos- 
ton, Mass.;  removed  to  New  York.     Died  in  New  York,  11  Jan.,  1881. 

1857.  GEORGE  HOLMES  BIXBY.  Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  N. 
May,  1861.  In  Miss.  Squad,  in  all  naval  battles  from  Memphis,  Tenn.,  to 
Vicksburg,  Miss.;  U.  S.  Naval  Hosp.  Ship  Red  Rover.  Resigned  24  Sept., 
1865. 

1857.  JAMES  GERRITT  BRADT.  Left  College  19  Oct.,  1854.  Assi. 
Surgeon  26th  Mass.  Vols.  10  Sept.,  1861.  With  Regt.  to  Ship  Island,  Miss., 
Nov.,  and  New  Orleans,  La.  Surgeon  26th  Mass.  Vols.  14  July,  1862. 
In  service  in  La.  in  1862-63;  battle  La  Fourche  Crossing;  in  Dept.  of 
Va.  in  1864;  battles  Winchester;  Fisher's  Hill;  Cedar  Creek.  Mustered 
out  7  Nov.,   1X64.     Died  at  Lowell,  Mass.,  22  Jan.,  1868. 

1857.  SAMUEL  KNAPP  TOWLE.  Asst.  Surgeon  14th  Mass.  Vols. 
(1st  Mass.  H.  A.)  5  July,  1861.  Surgeon  30th  .Mass.  Vols.  28  Feb.,  1862. 
Took  part  with  Regt.  on  Lower  Miss.  River;  capture  of  New  Orleans. 
La.;  attempt  on  Vicksburg,  Mis>. ;  battles  Baton  Rouge,  La.;  established 
Gen.  Hosps.,  Carrollton,  and  at  old  U.  S.  barracks  below  New  Orleans  ;  in 
charge  U.  S.  A.  Gen.  Hosp.  Baton  Rouge,  spring  of  1863;  transferred  to 
Gen.    Sheridan's   command   in   W.   Va.,  July,    1864;   in   charge   field    Hosp. 


974  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

ist  Div.  19th  A.  C. ;  campaign  Shenandoah  Valley.  Mustered  out  3  March, 
1865. 

1857.  GEORGE  THOMAS  PERKINS.  Hosp.  Steward  22d  Mass. 
Vols.  24  Sept.,  1861.  Wounded  at  battle  of  Gaines's  Mills,  Va.,  26  June, 
1862;  prisoner,  29  June,  at  Savage's  Station;  released  1  Aug.  Asst.  Sur- 
geon 22d  Mass.  Vols.  20  Feb.,  1863.  Act.  Surgeon-in-Chief,  Art.  Brig. 
5th  A.  C.  Asst.  Surgeon  32d  Mass.  Vols.  17  Oct.,  1864.  Surgeon  26th 
Mass.  Vols.  21  Dec,  1864.  Act.  Med.  Insp.,  City  of  Savannah.  Mus- 
tered out  25  Sept.,  1865.  Battles  Yorktown,  Va. ;  Hanover,  C.  H. ;  Me- 
chanicsville  ;  Gaines's  Mills  ;  Groveton  ;  Fredericksburg ;  Chancellorsville ; 
Middleburg;  Gettysburg,  Pa.;  Rappahannock  Station,  Va. ;  Mine  Run; 
Wilderness;  Laurel  Hill;  Spottsylvania ;  Jericho  Ford;  Little  River;  Tot- 
opotomy ;  Bethesda  Church ;  Shady  Grove  Church ;  Petersburg ;  siege  of 
Petersburg ;  Weldon  R.  R. ;  Cold  Harbor.  Practiced  his  profession  at 
Newton  Lower  Falls,  Mass.,  for  five  years  from  Dec,  1865 ;  removed 
to  Boston ;  went  to  Europe  in  1876,  and  again  1877 ;  Asst.  Surgeon  Baty. 
B.,  Mass.  Light  Art.,  29  Aug.,  1870;  Surgeon  ist  Mass.  V.  M.  10  Jan., 
1873;  discharged,  28  April,  1876;  Surgeon  7th  Mass.  V.  M.,  28  May,  1877. 
Died  at  Boston,  Mass.,  7  Dec,  1880. 

1857.  JOHN  HILL  MERRILL.  Asst.  Surgeon  ist  R.  I.  Light  Art. 
25  Aug.,  1862.  Joined  Army  of  the  Potomac  at  Harper's  Ferry,  Va. ;  Camp 
Barry  (Camp  of  Art.  Instruction),  Washington,  D.  C. ;  defences  of  Wash- 
ington, Feb.,  1863.  Surgeon  ist  R.  I.  Light  Art  6  April,  1863.  Surgeon- 
m-Chief,  Art.  Brig.  2d  A.  C.    Resigned  16  April,  1864. 

1857.  JACOB  FARNUM  HOLT.  Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  A.  6  July, 
1862.  On  duty  in  Hosps.  in  Philadelphia,  Pa. ;  at  Camp  William,  Chelton 
Hills,  and  at  Summit  House  Hosp.,  near  Darby.     Resigned  12  Oct.,  1864. 

1858.  SAMUEL  HENRY  EELLS.  Hosp.  Steward  12th  Mich.  Vols. 
7  Feb.,  1862.  Battle  Shiloh,  Tenn. ;  taken  prisoner  while  in  charge  of 
wounded  men ;  exchanged ;  battle  Hatchie ;  attached  to  Gen.  McClearn- 
and's  Div.  of  the  Reserve,  and  employed  in  guard  duty  at  various  points 
on  the  railroad  lines,  chiefly  at  Bolivar ;  siege  of  Vicksburg,  Miss. ;  expe- 
ditions to  the  Big  Black  River  and  into  Ark.  Asst.  Surgeon  12th  Mich. 
Vols.  1  Feb.,  1863.  Battle  Middleburg,  Tenn.  Died  at  Detroit,  Mich.,  31 
Jan.,   1864. 

1858.  WILLIAM  SNOW  DYER.  Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  A.  Aug., 
1861.  Benton  Barracks,  St.  Louis,  Mo.;  in  charge  U.  S.  A.  Gen.  Hosp., 
St.  Louis.     Discharged,  1864.     Died  at  Chicago,  111.,  14  Aug.,  1882. 

1858.  JOHN  OTIS  BURT.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  N.  30  July,  1861.  U. 
S.  S.  Colorado ;  ordered  to  U.  S.  S.  Conestoga,  of  the  Mississippi  Squad., 
Sept.,  1862.     Resigned  23  Nov.,  1863. 

1858.  JONATHAN  LONGFELLOW  CILLEY.  Hosp.  Steward  13th 
Ohio  Vols.   10  May,   1864.     Stationed  at  Fort  McHenry,  Baltimore,  Md., 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  975 

till  18  Aug.,  1864.  Act.  Master's  Mate  U.  S.  N.  31  Aug.,  1864.  Mississippi 
Squad.     Resigned  8  Nov.,  1864. 

1859.  ALFRED  FAIRBANKS  HOLT.  Private  3d  Mass.  V.  M.  17 
April,  1861.  In  service  at  Fort  Monroe,  Va. ;  Hosp.  Steward;  Asst.  Sur- 
geon Eastern  Bay  State  Regt,  Nov.,  1861 ;  not  mustered.  Asst.  Surgeon 
30th  Mass.  Vols.  20  Feb.,  1862.  Battle  Baton  Rouge,  La. ;  siege  of  Port 
Hudson;  battle  Carrion  Crow  Bayou.     Surgeon  1st  Texas  Cav.,  28  Nov., 

1862.  Major  1st  Texas  Cav.,  11  Jan.,  1864.  Lieut.  Colonel  1st  Texas 
Cav.,  19  May,  1865.     Mustered  out  28  Nov.,  1865. 

1859.  EDWARD  CURTIS.  Med.  Cadet  U.  S.  A.  6  Sept.,  1861.  As- 
signed to  duty  at  Union  Gen.  Hosp.,  Georgetown,  D.  C. ;  transferred  to 
Cliffburne  Barracks,  5  May,  1862;  ordered  for  temporary  duty  to  head- 
quarters Army  of  Va.,  22  Aug.,  Satterlee  Hosp.,  West  Philadelphia,  Pa., 
29  Aug.,  reappointed  Med.  Cadet,  6  Sept.  Discharged  4  May,  1863.  Act. 
Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  A.  5  May,  1863.  Assigned  to  duty  at  Surgeon  Gen- 
erals Office,  U.  S.  A.,  to  superintend  the  miscroscopical  Dept.  of  the  Army 
Medical  Museum.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  A.  30  March,  1864.  On  tem- 
porary duty  at  depot  Hosps.,  White  House,  Va.,  6  June ;  Consulting  and 
Operating  Surgeon,  Hampton,  Va.,  Gen.  Hosp.  22  June ;  returned  to  Sur- 
geon Generals  Office,  7  Aug. ;  Executive  Officer,  Sheridan  Field  Hosp., 
Winchester,  Va.,  20  Sept. ;  relieved  and  returned  to  former  post,  28  Oct. 
Bvt.  Captain  U.  S.  A.  13  March,  1865.  Bvt.  Major  U.  S.  A.  13  March, 
1865.     Resigned  7  June,  1870. 

1859.  JOHN  WINSLOW.  Act.  Med.  Cadet  U.  S.  A.  Sept.,  1862.  Un- 
ion Hotel  Hosp.,  Georgetown,  D.  C.     Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  A.  March, 

1863.  Mount  Pleasant  Gen.  Hosp.,  Washington,  March,  1863,  July,  1865. 
Discharged  July,    1865. 

1859-  GEORGE  AUGUSTUS  WHEELER.  Surgeon  18th  Me.  Vols., 
afterwards  1st  H.  A.  Defences  of  Washington,  D.  C.  Asst.  Surgeon  U. 
S.  Vols,  Oct.,  1862.  Ordered  to  report  at  U.  S.  Naval  Acad.,  Annapolis, 
Md.;  in  charge  Hosp.  at  Annapolis  Junction.    Surgeon  U.  S.  Vols.  5  April, 

1864.  Ordered  to  the  field ;  in  charge  Depot  Field  Hosp.  9th  A.  C.  at  City 
Point,  Va.,  for  ten  weeks;  Asst.  Med.  Dir.  and  Insp.  Hosps.  9th  A.  C.  until 
close  of  War ;  on  duty  in  Jeffersonville,  Ind.  Bvt.  Lieut.  Col.  U.  S.  Vols. 
20  March,  1865. 

1859.  AUGUSTINE  ALVAN  MANN.  Asst.  Surgeon  1st  R.  I.  Cav. 
7  June,  1862.  Joined  Regt.  at  Manassas  Junction,  Va. ;  on  duty  in  West- 
ern Va. ;  prisoner  at  Middleburg,  Va. ;  confined  in  Libby  Prison,  Rich- 
mond, till  24  Nov.,  1863;  rejoined  Regt.,  Feb.,  iSY>4;  on  detached  duty 
with  5th  Cav.  U.  S,  A.,  at  Brig.  Gen.  Merritts  Headquarters.  Mustered 
out  18  Nov.,  1864.  Battles  Cedar  Mountain,  Va. ;  Grovetown ;  second 
Bull  Run;  Chantilly;  Middleburg;  Deep  Bottom;  Berryville;  Opequan; 
Woodstock;  Cedar  Creek. 

1859.     ALEXANDER   IIUTCHINS.     Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  N.  30  July, 


976  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

1861.  Served  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. ;  U.  S.  S.  Wyandotte;  U.  S.  S.  Harriet 
Lane;  U.  S.  S.  Massachusetts,  supply  ship  to  Atlantic  Squad.  Resigned 
24  June,  1863. 

1859.  WILLIAM  HENRY  PALMER.  Surgeon  3d  N.  Y.  Cav.  28 
Aug.,  1861.  On  duty  with  9th  Corps  Army  of  Va.  and  N.  C,  Army  of  the 
James,  and  Army  of  the  Potomac ;  with  Gen.  Banks  in  Shenandoah  Val- 
ley ;  in  service  in  N.  C.  and  Eastern  Va.,  1862-63 ;  about  Petersburg  and 
on  the  James  River,  1864.  Mustered  out  27  Aug.,  1864.  Act.  Staff  Sur- 
geon U.  S.  A.  14  April,  1865.  In  charge  U.  S.  A.  Gen.  Hosp.  at  Richmond, 
Va.  Discharged  27  Aug.,  1865.  Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  A.  9  Sept., 
1865.  In  charge  Freedmens  Hosp.,  Richmond,  Gordonsville  Chancellors- 
ville,  Point  of  Rocks,  Orange  C.  H.,  and  Culpeper  C.  H.  Discharged  10 
Sept.,  1866. 

1859.  HORATIO  PAINE.  While  a  student  in  medicine,  in  connection 
with  Drs.  Mott  and  Van  Buren  of  New  York,  was  instrumental  in  induc- 
ing Congress  to  create  the  grade  of  Med.  Cadet  U.  S.  A. ;  the  bill  was 
passed  3  Aug.,  1861.  Med.  Cadet  U.  S.  A.  3  Aug.,  1861.  Assigned  to 
duty  as  Asst.  to  Surgeon  of  16th  N.  Y.  Vols.,  who  was  also  Chief  Sur- 
geon of  his  Brig.;  present  with  the  reserve  at  first  battle  of  Bull  Run,  Va. ; 
on  duty  at  Gen.  Hosp.  Alexandria,  Nov.,  1861 ;  ordered  to  Army  of  the 
Potomac  at  White  House,  May,  1862 ;  on  U.  S.  A.  Hosp.  Steamer  Com- 
modore. Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  A.  3  Aug.,  1862.  Again  ordered  to 
same  steamer,  and  soon  after  put  in  charge;  Gen.  Hosp.,  Frederick,  Md., 
Sept.,  1862;  Gen.  Hosp.,  Harpers  Ferry,  April,  1863;  on  temporary  duty 
with  151st  N.  Y.  Vols.  June.  Resigned  3  Aug.,  1863.  Took  his  degree 
of  M.  D.  (Univ.  Pa.)  and  again  appointed  Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  A. 
May,  1864.  Sent  to  Lincoln  Gen.  Hosp.,  Washington,  D.  C. ;  in  charge  of 
Barrack  Branch  Hosp.,  containing  five  hundred  beds ;  Whitehall  Gen. 
Hosp.,  near  Bristol,  Pa.,  where  he  was  made  executive  officer.  Resigned 
15   Aug.,    1865.      Died   in    England,    1    May,    1882. 

1859.  HENRY  MARTYN  WELLS.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  N.  30  July, 
1861.  Naval  Rendezvous  and  Hosp.,  Boston,  Mass.,  1861 ;  Sloop  Ports- 
mouth and  St.  Tennessee,  W.  Gulf  Blockading  Squad.,  1861-63;  engage- 
ments with  Forts  Jackson  and  St.  Philip,  April,  1862;  batteries  Donald- 
sonville,  La.,  Grand  Gulf,  Port  Hudson  and  Vicksburg,  Miss.,  1862-63; 
receiving  ship  and  Hosp.  at  Boston,  Mass.,  1864;  Frigate  Sabine,  1864; 
Ironclad  Onondaga,  N.  A.  Blockading  Squad.;  batteries  on  James  river, 
Va.,  1865 ;  Navy  Yard,  Washington,  D.  C,  and  St.  Shamokin,  Brazil 
Squad.,  1866-68.  Surgeon  U.  S.  N.  9  Oct.,  1866.  Naval  Hosp.,  New  York, 
1869-70. 

i860.  FRANCIS  FREDERIC  BROWN.  Asst.  Surgeon  48th  Mass. 
V.  M.  8  Dec,  1862.  Served  with  Regt.  in  La.,  at  Baton  Rouge  and  Port 
Hudson.     Mustered  out  3  Sept.,  1863. 

i860.     PTOLEMY  O'MEARA   EDSON.     Asst.    Surgeon   1st  Vt.   Cav. 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  977 

5  Nov.,  1861.  Surgeon  17th  Vt.  Vols.  16  March,  1864.  Battles  Winches- 
ter, Va. ;  Cedar  Mountain;  second  Bull  Run;  Chantilly ;  Gettysburg,  Pa.; 
Brandy  Station,  Va. ;  Wilderness;  Spottsylvania ;  North  Anna;  Cold  Har- 
bor; siege  of  Petersburg;  Poplar  Grove  Church.    Resigned  2"]  Feb.,  1865. 

i860.  GEORGE  GILL  WHEELOCK.  Volunteer  Surgeon  in  Scott's 
Life  Guards.  4th  N.  Y.  S.  M. ;  in  Va.  and  Md.,  June-July,  1861 ;  Volun- 
teer Surgeon  in  transports  of  U.  S.  San.  Com.,  April-May,  1862.  Act. 
Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  A.,  13  Jan.,  1865.  Served  in  Savannah,  Ga.,  becom- 
ing Exec.  Off.  at  U.  S.  A.  Gen.  Hosp.,  one  thousand  beds.  Resigned  8 
July,   1865. 

i860.  FREDERIC  WILLIAM  STOWE.  Private  1st  Mass.  Vols. 
1861.  Corporal,  May,  1861 ;  first  battle  Bull  Run,  Va.  Second  Lieut.  14th 
Mass.  Vols.  18  Feb.,  1862.  Captain  and  A.  A.  G.  U.  S.  Vols.  27  Jan., 
1863.  Staff  of  Brig.  Gen.  Von  Steinwehr,  nth  A.  C. ;  battles  Chancellors- 
ville,  Va. ;  Gettysburg,  Pa.,  where  he  was  wounded;  at  home  on  sick 
leave ;  battle  Lookout  Mountain,  Tenn. ;  again  on  sick  leave ;  reported  to 
Brig.  Gen.  Morrell,  Com.  Dept.  for  Drafted  Men,  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  where 
he  remained  till  summer  of  1864.  Resigned  Aug.,  1864.  Private  1st  Light 
Baty.  14  Oct.,  1864.  Bvt.  Second  Lieut.  U.  S.  Vols.  12  June,  1865.  Dis- 
charged 14  June,  1865.     Died  in  California. 

i860.  GEORGE  BAXTER  POMEROY.  Med.  Cadet  U.  S.  A.  Wood 
Hosp.  Asst.  Surgeon  noth  Pa.  Vols.  14  March,  1863.  Surgeon  i62d  Pa. 
Vols.  (17th  Pa.  Cav.)  21  April,  1864.  Surgeon-in-Chief  2d  Brig.  1st  Div. 
Cav.  Corps ;  wounded  at  Chancellorsville,  Va.  Mustered  out  28  June, 
1865. 

i860.  ADONIRAM  B.  JUDSON.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  N.  30  July, 
1861.  Passed  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  N.  22  July,  1864.  On  duty  at  Wash- 
ington, D.  C. ;  on  Porter's  fleet  of  mortar  schooners ;  U.  S.  S.  New  Iron- 
sides ;  U.  S.  Monitor  Nantucket ;  Hosp.  at  Boston,  Mass. ;  on  U.  S.  Frigate 
Potomac  at  Pensacola,  Fla.,  Navy  Yard ;  on  U.  S.  S.  Muscoota  and  U.  S.  S. 
Michigan  ;  in  action  below  New  Orleans,  La. ;  at  Vicksburg,  Miss. ;  and 
off  Charleston.  S.  C.  Surgeon  U.  S  N.  26  Dec,  1866.  Resigned  n  May, 
1868. 

i860.  FRANK  WILLIAM  LAWRENCE.  Left  College  July,  1857.  On 
duty  as  Surgeon  on  the  Sea  Islands,  S.  C,  Feb.,  1862,  appointed  by  the 
Educational  Commission.  Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  A.  fall  of  1862.  Sta- 
tioned at  St.  Helena  Island. 

i860.     CHARLES  JEWETT  WOOD.     Left  school  i860.     Hosp.  Stow 
ard  42d    Mass.   Vols.   Oct.    14,    1862.      Mustered  out  Aug.  20,    1863.     Died 
1880. 

NATHANIEL  BOWDITCH.  (Pupil.)  2d  Lieut.  1st  Mass.  Cav.  Nov. 
5,  1861.  Aide  de  camp  to  Gen.  Williams  in  expedition  against 
Charleston,  S.  C,  1st  Lieut,  and  Adjt.  March,  [863.  Act.  Asst. 
Adjt.     i^t     Brig.     -'(1     Div.     Army    of     the     Potomac.       Battles     Pope's 


978  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

retreat  and  those  of  Army  of  Potomac  up  to  Kelly's  Ford,  Va., 
March  16,  1863,  where  he  was  wounded  while  leading  a  cavalry  charge. 
Died  in  the  camp,  March  18,  1863.  Brig.  Gen.  of  his  Regt.  wrote  "  His 
conduct  in  battle  was  that  of  a  brave,  gallant  gentleman,  and  accomplished 
soldier.  Had  our  government  enough  of  such  officers  the  way  to  peace 
would  be  shortened." 

1861.  JOHN  H.  McGREGOR.  Hosp.  Steward  24th  Mass.  Vols.  2 
Sept.,  1861.  Asst.  Surgeon  12th  Mass.  Vols.  15  Aug.,  1862.  Resigned  2 
Sept.,  1863.  Asst.  Surgeon  32d  Mass.  Vols.  2  March,  1865.  Mustered  out 
29  June,  1865. 

1861.  FREDERIC  WENTWORTH  MERCER.  Asst.  Surgeon  47th 
Mass.  V.  M.  7  Nov.,  1862.  Mustered  out  1  Sept.,  1863.  Surgeon  1st  Batt. 
Frontier  Cav.  (attached  to  26th  N.  Y.  Vol.  Cav.),  Jan.,  1865.  Mustered 
out  30  June,  1865. 

1861.  EZRA  PRAY.  Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  N.  21  Oct.,  1861.  North 
and  South  Atlantic,  and  West  Gulf  Squad.,  on  U.  S.  S.  Fernandina,  Cam- 
bridge, State  of  George,  Bainbridge,  Wabash,  Augusta,  Dinsmore,  and 
Arkansas.  Act.  Passed  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  N.  4  Aug.,  1865.  Discharged 
6  March,   1866. 

1861.  CARLETON  ATWOOD  SHURTLEFF.  Med.  Cadet  U.  S.  A. 
29  March,  1863.  Ordered  to  duty  with  army  of  Gen.  Grant  near  Vicksburg, 
Miss. ;  assigned  to  duty  in  floating  Hosp.  Nashville  at  Milliken's  Bend, 
Miss.  River ;  at  home  on  sick  leave,  15  June ;  ordered  to  Harrisburg,  Pa. ; 
on  duty  at  Cotton  Factory  Hosp.,  20  July,  till  sent  to  Turner's  Lane  Hosp., 
Philadelphia,  26  Oct.,  1863.  Mustered  out  29  March,  1864.  Returned  to 
Boston,  Mass.,  and  continued  the  study  of  medicine.  Died  at  Brookline, 
Mass.,  26  June,  1864. 

1861.  ISAAC  SMITH.  Asst.  Surgeon  26th  Mass.  Vols.  2  Dec,  1862. 
Battles  Lafourche  Crossing,  La.;  Vermillion  Bayou;  Deep  Bottom,  Va. ; 
Winchester,  where  he  was  wounded,  19  Sept.,  1864.  Mustered  out  7  No., 
1864. 

1861.  VERTULAN  RTCH  STONE.  Asst.  Surgeon  19th  Mass.  Vols. 
6  Nov.,  1862.     Resigned  11  May,  1863. 

1862.  GEORGE  EDWIN  PINKHAM.  Asst.  Surgeon  6th  Mass.  V.  M. 
23  Dec,  1862.  Battles  Deserted  House,  Va. ;  Cassville;  siege  of  Suffolk. 
Mustered  out  3  June,  1863.  Asst.  Surgeon  3d  Mass.  H.  A.  6  March,  1865. 
Brig.  Surgeon  2d  Brig.  22d  A.  C.    Resigned  16  Aug.,  1865. 

1861.  EDWARD  R.  HUTCIIINS.  Private  1st  Mass.  Vols.  2  May, 
1861.  Med.  Cadet  U.  S.  A.  3  Aug..  1861.  Discharged  31  Aug.,  1862.  Asst. 
Surgeon  nth  N.  H.  Vols.  2  Sept.,  1862.  Battles  second  Bull  Run,  Va. ; 
Fredericksburg.  Mustered  out  25  Dec,  1862.  Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S. 
N.  Jan.,  1863.  Attack  on  Fort  Powell,  Mobile  Bay,  Ala.  Resigned  1  Dec, 
1865. 

1861.     FRANK  HASTINGS  HAMILTON.     Left  College  9  May,  1859. 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  979 

Private  6th  N.  Y.  S.  M.  26  April,  1861.    Sergeant  31st  N.  Y.  S.  M.  1  May, 

1861.  Second  Lieut.  16th  N.  Y.  Vols.  22  Feb.,  1862.  Resigned  on  account 
of  disability,  22  Sept.,  1862.  Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  A.  9  March,  1863. 
Went  to  California  in  1866  as  bookkeeper  in  wholesale  stationery  and  pa- 
per business.     Died  at  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  5  Nov.,  1869. 

1861.     DANIEL  DUDLEY  GILBERT.    Med.  Cadet  U.  S.  A.  27  March, 

1862.  On  staff  of  Maj.  Gen.  Franklin  as  Asst.  to  Med.  Dir.,  6  July,  15 
Sept.;  battles  second  Bull  Run,  Va. ;  South  Mountain,  Md.;  in  Hosps.  at 
Washington,  D.  C,  Frederick,  Md.,  and  Alexandria,  Va.,  till  11  Nov. 
Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  N.  11  Nov.,  1862.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  N.  25 
Jan.,  1863.  U.  S.  Naval  Hosp.,  Chelsea,  Mass.,  Jan.-July,  1863;  U.  S.  S. 
Maratanza.  N.  A.  Blockade  Squad,  off  Wilmington,  N.  C.  Resigned  16 
Aug.,  1864. 

1861.  FRANCIS  HIGGINSON  ATKINS,  S.  B.  Private  44th  Mass. 
V.  M.  22  Aug.,  1862.  Mustered  out  18  June,  1863.  Act.  Med.  Cadet  U. 
S.  A.  July,  1863.  Judiciary  Square  Hosp.,  Washington,  D.  C.  Med. 
Cadet  U.  S.  A.  1  Jan.,  1864.  Discharged  March,  1864.  Act.  Asst.  Sur- 
geon U.  S.  N.  March,  1864.  Farragut's  Fleet,  West  Gulf  Squad.  Re- 
signed 28  Nov.,  1864. 

1861.  RICHARD  CURRAN.  Left  school  i860.  Private  33d  N.  Y. 
Vols.  May  22,  1861.     Hosp.  Steward.     Surgeon  33d  N.  Y.  Vols.  Aug.  15, 

1862.  Mustered  out  June  2,  1863. 

1862.  DAVID  THAYER  BUNKER.  Private  4th  Batt.  Mass.  V.  M. 
Captain  33d  Mass.  Vols.  6  June,  1862.  Served  with  Regt.  in  Va. ;  trans- 
ferred with  company  to  41st  Mass.  Vols.  Captain  41st  Mass.  Vols,  (after- 
ward 3d  Mass.  Cav.)  31  July,  1862.  Attached  to  Bank's  La.  expedition; 
participated  in  thirty-five  engagements.  Major  3d  Mass.  Cav.  7  Aug., 
1864.     Mustered  out  6  June,  1865. 

1862.  WILLIAM  FLETCHER  McNUTT.  Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S. 
N.  24  Dec,  1862.  Mississippi  Squad;  siege  of  Vicksburg,  Miss.;  Grand 
Gulf;  Deer  Creek,  Red  River  expedition.    Resigned  23  July,  1864. 

1862.     JEROME    HENRY    KIDDER.      Private    10th    Md.   Vols.    May, 

1863.  Corporal;  Sergeant;  battles  Berryville,  Va. ;  Falling  Waters,  Md. ; 
at  Patterson  Park  and  Hicks  Gen.  Hosps.  near  Baltimore,  as  Vol.  Cadet 
and  Surgical  Dresser,  with  warrant  as  Hosp.  Steward.     Mustered  out  Feb., 

1864.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  N.  18  June,  1866.  Served  at  Naval  Hosp., 
Philadelphia,  Pa.;  ordered  to  U.  S.  S.  Idaho,  1  Oct.,  1867;  on  Japan  sta- 
tion ;  decoration  from  King  of  Portugal  of  the  Order  of  Christ.  Passed 
Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  N.  20  March,  1871.  At  Naval  Hosp.  and  Naval  Lab- 
oratory, New  York ;  attached  to  Transit  of  Venus  Expedition  to  Kerguelen 
Island  as  naturalist,  June,  1873;  special  duty  with  U.  S.  Fish  Commission, 
summer  of  1875.  Surgeon  U.  S.  N.  June,  1876.  At  Smithsonian  Inst., 
Washington,  D.  C,  preparing  reports  upon  the  Natural  History  of  Ker- 
guelen Island   (Bulletins  2  and  3,  Nat.  Mus.,   1876)  ;  ordered  to  U.  S.  S. 


980  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Alliance,  Dec,  1876;  on  European  station  until  Aug.,  1878;  special  duty 
with  U.  S.  Fish  Com.,  summer  of  1879;  on  duty  at  Navy  Dept.,  Wash- 
ington, as  chemist  and  microscopist.    Resigned  18  June,  1884. 

1862.  AZRO  MELVIN  PLANT.  Asst.  Surgeon  14th  Vt.  Vols.  29  Jan., 
1863.  Joined  Regt.  at  Fairfax  Station,  Va. ;  Brigade  Hosp.,  Fairfax  C.  H. ; 
Emory  Hosp.,  Washington,  D.  C.  Mustered  out  30  July,  1863.  Act.  Asst. 
Surgeon  U.  S.  A.  Emory  and  Lincoln  Hosps.,  Washington,  D.  C,  and  in 
defences    of    Washington.      Discharged    17    April,    1864. 

1863.  ARTHUR  HENRY  WILSON.  Left  school  in  1862.  Asst. 
Surgeon  U.  S.  Vols.  Asst.  Surgeon  7th  Veteran  Vols.  May  12,  1865.  Dis- 
charged April  27,  1866.     Died  at  South  Boston  May  11,  1890. 

1863.  WILLIAM  BARROWS  GROVER.  Hosp.  Steward  9th  Maine 
Vols.  Sept.,  1862.  Joined  Regt.  at  Fernandina,  Fla.,  Nov. ;  served  with 
Regt.  at  Hilton  Head,  S.  C. ;  in  office  of  Chief  Q.  M.  10th  Corps ;  expedi- 
tions against  Charleston,  S.  C,  via  Morris  Island.  Med.  Cadet  U.  S.  A. 
Nov.,  1863.  On  duty  at  Fort  Independence,  Boston  Harbor,  Mass.,  Mass. 
Gen.  Hosp.  and  Beach  Street  Barracks,  Boston.     Discharged  Nov.,  1864. 

1863.  WILLIAM  FURNESS  JENKS.  Private  32d  Pa.  V  M.  June, 
1863.  Mustered  out  July,  1863.  M.  D.  Univ.  Pa.,  1866;  studied  abroad  in 
Berlin,  Vienna,  London  and  Edinburgh,  giving  special  attention  to  obstetric 
medicine ;  in  1870  returned  to  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  and  engaged  in  the  prac- 
tice of  medicine ;  organized  the  obstetrical  Dept.  of  the  Philadelphia  Dis- 
pensary ;  Mem.  Pathological  and  Ostetrical  Societies,  Philadelphia ;  Fellow 
Coll.  Phys.,  Philadelphia;  prepared  course  of  lectures  under  the  Mueller 
bequest ;  editor  Am.  Supp.  Obstet.  Journ.  Great  Britain  and  Ireland ;  Sur- 
geon State  Hosp.  for  Women.     Died  near  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  31  Oct.,  1881. 

1863.  BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN  STURGIS.  Asst.  Surgeon  19th  Me. 
Vols.  23  April,  1864.  Battles  Wilderness,  Va. ;  Spottsylvania ;  North 
Anna;  Cold  Harbor;  in  front  of  Petersburg;  Weldon  R.  R. ;  Reames's 
Station.     Discharged  on  account  of  disability  22  Oct.,   1864. 

1863.  FREDERIC  BARTLETT  LAWSON.  Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S. 
N.  16  Sept.,  1862.     Resigned  20  Nov.,  1865. 

1863.  WILLIAM  HENRY  LATHROP.  Private  44th  Mass.  V.  M.  12 
Sept.,  1862.  On  duty  with  Regt.  in  N.  C. ;  detailed  as  Commissary  Stew- 
ard. Mustered  out  18  June,  1863.  Commissary  Steward  Foster  Gen.  Hosp. 
in  Newbern,  N.  C.  Act.  Med.  Cadet  U.  S.  A.  10  Aug.,  1863,  10  Aug.,  1864. 
Satterlee  Gen.  Hosp.,  Philadelphia,  Pa.  Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  A.  16 
March,  1865.  Second  Corps  Hosp.  Army  of  the  Potomac.  Asst.  Surgeon 
55th  Mass.  Vols.  14  June,  1865.  Mustered  out  29  Aug.,  1865.  Remained 
in  S.  C.  as  Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  till  discharged  from  service,  Nov.,  1866; 
a  part  of  the  time  as  quarantine  officer.  Port  Royal,  S.  C. 

1863.  OLIVER  HATCH  WEBBER.  Second  Lieut.  43d  Mass.  V.  M. 
9  Sept.,  1862.     Battles  Kinston,  N.  C. ;  Whitehall ;  Goldsboro ;  Act.  Asst. 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  981 

Surgeon  to  Regt. ;  in  charge  of  transport  to  Washington.  Mustered  out 
30  July,  1863. 

1863.  JOSEPH  MASON.  Hosp.  Steward  U.  S.  N.  U.  S.  Euterpe. 
Act.  Med.  Cadet  U.  S.  A.  Mill  Creek  Hosp.,  Va,  1862.  Died  at  Mill 
Creek  near  Fort  Monroe,  Va.,  23  Sept.,  1862. 

1863.  ELISHA  MANN  WHITE.  Asst.  Surgeon  37th  Mass.  Vols.  29 
March,  1864.  Surgeon  37th  Mass.  Vols.  21  Dec,  1864.  Transferred  to 
20th  Mass.  Vols.  19  June,  1865.  Mustered  out  as  supernumerary,  22  June, 
1865. 

1863.  ABRAHAM  M.  WILDER.  Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  A.  April, 
1862.  At  Corinth,  Miss.,  and  Pittsburg  Landing,  Tenn.  Act.  Asst.  Surgeon 
U.  S.  A.  1  Oct.,  1862.  Harewood  Hosp.,  Washington,  D.  C.  Asst.  Sur- 
geon U.  S.  Vols.  11  March,  1863.  U.  S.  Gen.  Hosp.,  Madison,  Ind.  Sur- 
geon U.  S.  Vols.  29  June,  1863.  In  charge  of  Hosp.  at  Madison;  Chief 
Surgeon  2d  Div.  9th  A.  C. ;  Med.  Dir.  9th  A.  C. ;  Med.  Insp.  of  Forces  in 
E.  Tenn. ;  present  at  all  battles  of  9th  A.  C. ;  Med.  Dir.  23d  A.  C. ;  siege 
of  Knoxville,  Tenn.;  organized  Med.  Dept.  of  Gen.  Stoneman's  Cav.  Corps; 
Med.  Insp.  Army  and  Dept.  of  the  Ohio ;  organized  Med.  Dept.  and  Am- 
bulance Corps  for  Atlanta,  Ga.,  campaign;  Med.  Dir.  Dept.  of  the  Ohio, 
winter  of  1864-65 ;  ordered  to  Fort  Leavemvorth,  Kan.,  May,  1865.  Bvt. 
Lieut.  Colonel  U.  S.  Vols.  15  Aug.,  1865.     Mustered  out  Sept.,  1865. 

1864.  ALPHEUS  SPRAGUE  PACKARD.  Asst.  Surgeon  1st  Me. 
Vet.  Vols.  Oct.,  1864.     Mustered  out  July,  1865. 

1864.  HORACE  BINNEY  HARE.  Left  College  30  Sept.,  1861.  Pri- 
vate Miller's  Baty.  Pa.  V.  M.  13  Sept.,  1862.  Sergeant.  Mustered  out  24 
Sept.,  1862.  Engaged  in  the  practice  of  medicine  in  Philadelphia,  Pa., 
till  June,  1874;  sailed  for  Europe,  and  engaged  in  study  in  Leipzig,  de- 
voting himself  especially  to  the  study  of  medical  chemistry;  returned  to 
Philadelphia  in  1876,  and  resumed  practice ;  Instruct,  of  Chem.  Episc. 
Acad. ;  Prof,  of  Hygiene  Auxil.  Fac.  of  Med.  Univ.  of  Pa.,  6  Feb.,  1877 ; 
Pathol.  Chem.  to  Univ.  Hosp.,  March,  1877;  lecturer  on  Pathol.  Chem., 
Univ.  of  Pa. ;  lecturer  on  Chem.,  Franklin  Inst. ;  on  a  voyage  to  Cali- 
fornia, Australia,  and  the  Pacific  Coast,  1877;  voyage  to  Mediterranean, 
1878.     Died  at  St.  Thomas,  W.  I.,  21  March,  1879. 

1864.  JOHN  RANDOLPH  NAM.  Asst.  Surgeon  115th  U.  S.  C.  T. 
Aug.,  1864.  Ordered  to  Louisville,  Ky. ;  Act.  Surgeon  114th  U.  S.  C.  T. 
19  Aug.,  10  Nov.,  1864;  rejoined  Regt.,  sick  in  Hosp.  in  Lexington;  re- 
joined Regt.  20  Dec,  1864,  in  Ky. ;  Med.  Purveyor  25th  A.  C.  28  March, 
1865  ;  entered  Richmond,  Va.,  3  April,  1865 ;  ordered  to  Texas,  16  June,  1865  ; 
Post  Surgeon  and  Med.  Purveyor  of  Corps.  Surgeon  115th  U.  S.  C.  T. 
25  Oct.,  1865.     Mustered  out  13  March,  1866. 

1864.  GEORGE  FULLER  GILL.  Hosp.  Steward  R.  I.  Vols.  1862. 
Med.  Cadet  U.  S.  A.  March,  1863.  Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  A.  March. 
1864.     Discharged  July,  1865. 


982  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

1864.     BENJAMIN  COBURN. 

1864.  ELISHA  PECKHAM  CLARKE.  Asst.  Surgeon  31st  Mass. 
Vols.  17  Feb.,  1864.  Battles  Mansfield  and  Cane  River,  La. ;  Spanish  Fort 
and  Blakely,  Ala. ;  prisoner  one  month  at  Alexandria,  La.  Mustered 
out  9  Sept.,  1865. 

1864.  ALFRED  EASTMAN  EMERY.  Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  N. 
26  March,  1863.  First  and  second  attacks  on  Fort  Fisher,  N.  C. ;  siege 
of  Vicksburg,  Miss. ;  Hosp.  ship  Red  Rover,  Miss.  Squad. ;  U.  S.  S.  Key- 
stone State,  N.  A.  Squad.     Mustered  out  22  Feb.,  1865. 

1864.    JOSEPH  RUTTER  DRAPER.     Med.   Cadet  U.   S.  A.   1   May, 

1863.  Asst.  Surgeon  14th  R.  I.  Vols,  (afterward  nth  U.  S.  Colored  H. 
A.)  n  Dec,  1863.  Served  in  Texas  and  La.  Mustered  out  2  Oct.,  1865. 
Returned  to  the  practice  of  medicine  at  South  Boston,  Mass.  Died  at 
South  Boston,  Mass.,  5  Aug.,  1885. 

1864.  DANIEL  COFFIN  BURLEIGH.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  N.  1864. 
Act.  Passed  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  N.,  1866.  Resigned.  Reappointed  Act. 
Passed  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  N.,  1879.     Retired  on  account  of  disability. 

1864.  CHARLES  BURR  BRIDGHAM.  Private  2d  U.  S.  Sharp- 
shooters, Nov.,  1861.  Hosp.  Steward;  prisoner  at  second  Bull  Run,  Va. ; 
paroled  in  one  week.  Asst.  Surgeon  54th  Mass.  Vols.  1  May,  1863.  Re- 
signed 22  Feb.,   1864.     Recommissioned  4  May,   1864.     Resigned  16  July, 

1864.  Battles  Falmouth ;  Culpeper ;  Cedar  Mountain ;  Rappahannock  Sta- 
tion; Sulphur  Springs;  second  Bull  Run;  Fort  Wagner,  S.  C. ;  siege  of 
Charleston ;  Florida  campaign. 

1865.  GEORGE  W.  MASTERS,  M.  D.  Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  N. 
June,  1862.     Honorably  discharged  10  Oct.,  1865. 

1865.  HERMAN  JOSEPH  SMITH.  Asst.  Surgeon  5th  U.  S.  C.  Cav., 
8  Oct.,  1864.  In  service  in  Ky.,  Tenn.,  and  Ark.  Discharged  16  March, 
1866. 

1865.  ALBERT  RAYMOND  RICE.  Asst.  Surgeon  49th  Mass.  V.  M. 
3  Dec,  1862.     Mustered  out  1  Sept.,  1863. 

1865.     GEORGE   ALBERT   MONRO. 

1865.  AMASA  ELLIOTT  PAINE.  Private  43d  Mass.  V.  M.  20  Sept., 
1862.  Assigned  to  Hosp.  Dept.  Mustered  out  30  July,  1863.  Med.  Cadet 
U.  S.  A.  Mt.  Pleasant  Hosp.,  Washington,  D.  C,  for  fourteen  months. 
Asst.  Surgeon  104th  U.  S.  C.  T.  21  Aug.,  1865.  Mustered  out  5  Feb., 
1866. 

1865.  JOHN  FRANCIS  SAVILLE.  Asst.  Surgeon  4th  Mass.  H.  A. 
5  Dec,  1864.     Resigned  17  June,  1865. 

1865.  JAMES  EDWIN  WALKER.  Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  A.  24 
June,  1862.  Assigned  to  5th  Me.  Vols,  in  front  of  Richmond,  Va. ;  bat- 
tles Gaines's  Mill;  Charles  City  Cross  Roads;  Crampton's  Gap;  South 
Mountain,  Md.     Discharged  24  Sept.,  1862. 

1865.     ATWOOD  CROSBY.     Private  3d  Me.  Vols.  1861.     Prisoner  at 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  9S3 

Bull  Run,  Va. ;  confined  at  Tuscaloosa,  Ala.,  and  Salisbury,  N.  C. ;  ex- 
changed. Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  N.  27  June,  1864.  S.  A.  Block.  Squad 
off  Beaufort,  N.  C,  Appalachicola,  Fla.,  and  Tampa  Bay. 

1865.  JOHN  HARDY  BLODGETT.  Private  U.  S.  N.  Hosp.  Stew- 
ard. Act.  Asst.  Surgeon  U.  S.  N.  10  Sept.,  1864.  Prisoner  at  Stanton, 
Va.,  and  Libby  Prison,  Richmond.     Honorably  discharged  5  Sept.,  1865. 

1866.  EDMUND  WILLIS  SLAYTON. 

1S66.  HENRY  DAVIS  WYATT.  Private  15th  N.  H.  Vols.  Sept., 
1862.  Sergeant,  Oct.,  1862.  First  Lieutenant  15th  N.  H.  Vols.  3  Nov., 
1862.  Port  Hudson,  La. ;  wounded,  27  May,  1863.  Mustered  out  Aug., 
1S63.  Asst.  Surgeon  1st  U.  S.  Colored  Art.,  9  Feb.,  1865.  Greenville, 
Tenn.  and  Chattanooga.     Mustered  out  31  March,  1866. 

1866.  ELI  M ELLEN  WRIGHT.  First  Lieutenant  23d  Me.  Vols.  Aug., 
1861.  Resigned  15  Dec,  1862.  Asst.  Surgeon  1st  U.  S.  C.  T.  May,  1865. 
Mustered  out  March,  1866. 

1866.  CALVIN  CURTIS  ELLIS.  Act.  Steward  U.  S.  A.  May,  1864. 
Swan  Hosp.,  Montpelia,  Vt.     Discharged  1  May,  1865. 

1866.  CHESTER  MANNING  FERRIN.  Private  8th  Vt.  Vols.  28 
Nov.,  1861.  Hosp.  Steward,  Div.  Hosp.,  Sept.,  1863,  Dept.  of  the  Missis- 
sippi;  battle  Camp  Bisland,  La.;  siege  of  Port  Hudson;  battles  Donald- 
sonville;  Alexandria;  Red  River.    Mustered  out  22  June,  1864. 

1868.  CHARLES  TOTMAN  FRINK.  Sergeant  1st  Art.  U.  S.  A.  (at 
opening  of  war).  Stationed  at  Fort  Brown,  Texas;  on  surrender  of  that 
post,  9  March,  1861,  ordered  to  Tortugas,  Fla. ;  to  Beaufort,  S.  C. ;  16 
June,  1862 ;  New  York,  May,  1863 ;  in  Hosp.,  and  on  leave  till  discharged 
July,  1864. 

1868.  JAMES  NATHANIEL  GRANGER.  First  Lieutenant  2d  R.  I. 
Vols.  21  Jan.,  1865.  Campaign  near  Petersburg,  Va.  Mustered  out  13 
July,  1865. 

1868.  EDWIN  DEVEREUX  JAQUES.  Private  17th  Me.  Vols.  18 
Aug.,  1862.     Battle  Fredericksburg,  Va.     Mustered  out  10  Feb.,  1863. 

1868.  WILLIAM  CHAUNCY  HALL  NEEDHAM.  Private  60th 
Mass.  V.  M.  19  July,  1864.  Mustered  out  30  Nov.,  1864.  Practiced  medi- 
cine at  Gallipolis,  Ohio;  City  Physician,  1878;  member  of  Ohio  Senate. 
Died  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  Jan.,  1882. 

1868.  ASHBEL  HENRY  CRAM.     Private  Cav. 

1869.  CHARLES  HIRAM  COLGROVE.  Sergeant.  Marine  Hosp., 
New  Orleans,  La.     Mustered  out  June,  1863.     Died  3  Jan.,  1866. 

1869.  LEONARD  MARSHALL  ENDY.  Private  15th  N.  H.  Vols. 
Aug.,  1862.  Attack  on  Port  Hudson,  La.  Mustered  out  13  Aug.,  1863. 
Died  at  Bartlett,  N.  H.,  29  Nov.,  1876. 

1869.  NATHANIEL  BRIGHT  EMERSON.  Private  1st  Mass.  Vols. 
22   May,   1862.     Battles   Fredericksburg,  Va.    (wounded);   Chancellorsville 


984  HARVARD  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

(wounded)  :  Gettysburg,  Pa.;  Locust  Grove,  Va. ;  Mine  Run;  Wilderness; 
Spottsylvania.     Mustered  out  25  May,  1864. 

1869.  CHARLES  WILLIAM  LYNN.  Private  Oct.,  1861.  Attack  on 
Roanoke  Island,  N.  C. ;  battles  Newbern ;  Kinston ;  Goldsboro ;  Petersburg, 
Va. ;  Hosps.  Newbern,  N.  C. ;  Hammond;  Fort  Monroe,  Va. ;  Point  Look- 
out, Md. ;  Dale ;  Worcester,  Mass.    Mustered  out  Oct.,  1864. 

1869.  JACOB  GILBERT  FORMAN.  Chaplain  3d  Mo.  Vols.  17  Sept., 
1861.  Also  Act.  Chaplain  1st  Mo.  Cav.  and  3d  Inf.  U.  S.  A.;  battle  Cape 
Girardeau,  Mo. ;  Hosps.  St.  Louis,  Mo. ;  Cassville,  and  Helena,  Ark. ;  Supt. 
of  Refugees  at  St.  Louis,  Mo. ;  and  Sec.  Western  San.  Com. ;  Author  of 
"  History  of  Western  Sanitary  Commission."  Mustered  out  31  Nov.,  1865. 
Returned  to  Mass.  Oct.,  1866;  studied  medicine  at  Harvard  Med.  School; 
accepted  call  to  preach  at  West  Bridgewater,  Mass.,  April,  1867;  purchased 
a  store  in  Lynn,  1869,  and  engaged  in  the  business  of  a  druggist  for  re- 
mainder of  his  life.    Died  at  Lynn,  Mass.,  7  Feb.,  1885. 

1869.  GEORGE  WASHINGTON  WARREN.  Private  nth  Baty. 
Light  Art.  Mass.  Vols.  2  Jan.,  1864.  Mustered  out  29  May,  1863.  Died 
at  Brighton,  Mass.,  3  Sept.,  1864. 

1870.  JAMES  SHERMAN  GRISWOLD.  Served  in  Hosp.  in  Phila- 
delphia, Penn.     Died  at  Worcester,   Mass.,  Dec.  29,   1889. 

1870.  RICHARD  D.  McGRAW.  Second  Lieutenant  5th  N.  Y.  Vols. 
1862-65. 

The  names  of  the  following  eight  men  were  given  to  H.  I.  Bowditch  in 
1866  as  having  been  engaged  in  the  service  of  the  United  States  during  the 
War.  They  are  not  found  in  the  Annual  Catalogues  or  in  the  matricula- 
tion books  of  the  Medical  School.  It  is  believed,  however,  that  the  men 
were  temporarily  members  of  the  School,  and  that  they  left  for  the  pur- 
pose of  entering  the  service  before  their  names  were  enrolled  as  actual 

students. 
G.  D.  BASSETT. 

ORLANDO  BROWN. 

BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN   EATON.  Died  at  Hartford,  Vt,  1   March, 
1882. 
JAMES  HARRIS.    Died,  1865. 
HUFF. 

d.  McAllister. 

M.  L.  MORSE. 

J.  W.  ONGLE. 

1898.  EDSON  PARKER  HOWES.  Hosp.  Steward  May  3,  1898.  2d 
Mass.  Inf.  U.  S.  V.  In  campaign  against  Santiago.  Battle  El  Caney  on 
July  1.  In  Hosps.  1st,  2d,  3d  Div.  On  board  the  Berkshire.  Detention 
Hosp.   at    Montauk    Point.     Mustered   out    Nov.   3,    1898. 

1898.     CHARLES   FRANCIS   SANBORN.     Private,  Hosp.   Corps,  U 


HARVARD  MEN  IN  THE  WARS  985 

S.  A.  April  28,  1898.  Act.  Hosp.  Steward.  July  25,  1899.  Camp  at  Port 
Tampa,  May,  1808.  1st  expedition  to  Cuba.  Santiago  June-Aug.  With 
army  of  occupation  Camps  A.  G.  Capron,  Maceo  and  Carpenter.  Dis- 
charged March  11,  1899. 


,v:; 


a  y. 


1.  <-v  ftSW 


!fe< 


<&, 


'Ssrt?'i 


-*5E58ssffi*~ 


Returnthji 


''-%3 


s^^f 


L^l. 


«f*- 


SI 


$j# 


"V 


9 1 >: 


ri?jf 


X '  r  *-  -  'i'.M'  • 


Hi 


uuujs 


%JiL    \  it, 


li^/rct.'^ 


AA      000  222  438 


RH 


I 


:4^ 


i7*a/V 


wJfUa 


■ 
■ 


■ 


1 


. 


- 

.1 

- 

■ 


•: 


